Project Naruto: Shinobi X
by Contramancer
Summary: A challenge response. Naruto is abducted by Orochimaru in an attempt to cure Kimmimaro's disease. Rejected as a dying failure, the Kyuubi makes him into something... more. As he learns about his new abilities, Naruto is still challenged on all sides by those who only see his prisoner. Can he save Konoha, and Hinata, from war and disaster? NaruHina. Rating to be safe.
1. Seal 1: Assault

**_Project Naruto: Shinobi X._**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Let's see how well I can do this.

**Basic Premise:** Naruto is transformed into a Weapon-X project. This is _not_ an X-men cross-over, the basic 'Weapon-X' idea is the only thing that transfers over.

**First Seal: Assault.**

The pain was fading... That was certain enough, but it was fading slowly. As the boy, bruised and beaten, cut in several places by sheer impact trauma, forced his one good eye open, and that only halfway from the swelling on his face, he could feel the slight burn as his body healed... again. Every year this happened. Every October tenth a mob came looking for him, and the beatings were getting worse. Especially as he continued to recover. He was lifted gently by a pair of arms belonging to an ANBU in a dog mask, and the familiar jolt-and-bounce of a shinobi running as fast as he could began. He was heading to the hospital again, he knew. The Hokage would be there, as soon as he found out, but why couldn't he stop it from happening in the first place?

The blond boy didn't know who was doing this to him, and the people who did get caught somehow mysteriously walked free within hours with all charges dropped. He was in so much pain sometimes that he almost wished it would all stop. But then he'd hear a vague and somewhat shy giggle in the back of his mind, a soft voice that he could never quite place saying something he could never remember, and he would drag himself back up and fight for his life. Even now, when his very blood was leaving a clear trail showing the ANBU's progress, as the boy slipped into unconsciousness, he'd recall vaguely the girl (_that_ much he was sure of) and his attacking the bullies who'd cornered her. He'd lost of course, but he'd fought them hard, drawing their attention, and luring them, away from their first target... Some days, he wished he could remember who she was, but the five boys had beaten him harshly, even if he'd given well nigh as good as he got. The girl's minder had shown up and bought the bullies' story that Naruto had been bothering the girl, and delivered a strike to the boy's head, ignoring the protest of the girl. As she'd knelt beside him that day, he'd heard her apologising, thanking him for saving her, before being dragged away...

The doctors and nurses at the hospital were indifferent to the boy. As long as the ANBU was watching they did their jobs, but the second he left to report to the Hokage, they left him in a room alone, to die... or live, as he had a distressing tendency to survive. The boy had heard the hate-filled epithets they muttered at him before, and though they puzzled him, he had long since grown inured to them. It was not living he was doing now, it was surviving. He'd made up his mind that he would be Hokage one day, and he would manage it... if only for _her_.

* * *

The white-haired young medic-nin looked at the boy's chart. The way this Uzumaki brat was healing was incredibly rapid, almost unnatural. Maybe he could use that to find a cure for his Master's disciple. It would take a lot of planning, but if it worked...

* * *

Naruto opened his sapphire blue eyes to see a ceiling that had been spattered with something brown, almost black in some places. To one side, he could see a table with silvery instruments arrayed upon it, and two men discussing some kind of notes. He was firmly secured to the table, and to the other side, if he twisted his eyes far enough, he could make out another table with someone strapped to it. Even as he watched, he saw the taller and skinnier man, who had strange yellow eyes, collect a shard of what looked like bone from the other person's chest. Since there were no screams, the other person must have been unconscious. As the two upright figures stood over him, the taller one spoke in a voice that seemed designed to give people the creeps.

"Oh, good, you're awake..." he said, smiling sadistically. "This experiment is most likely going to hurt a little." The searing pain as the shorter man opened the flesh of Naruto's chest with a scalpel and quickly cracked the sternum caused the boy to scream in agony... and he hadn't screamed when the mob had come for him. The taller man inserted the shard of bone into the fracture in Naruto's breastbone, and the two men then sewed the wound shut.

"Over the next few days, this is going to hurt a little more," the snake-eyed man explained. "Either you'll survive, in which case you might be useful, or you'll die, and we can disect you to see what went wrong. It's a win-win situation... for me..."

As the blond boy, barely nine years old, drifted into the oblivion of unconsciousness once more, the 'experiment' began...

* * *

The shinobi of Konoha were mobilized by the order of the Hokage, and sent out to find Naruto within minutes of the boy being reported missing. Since that didn't happen until the ANBU in the dog mask stopped by the hospital at noon the next day, the chances of finding him were significantly reduced. A great many ninja didn't put much effort into the search, wanting nothing to do with the 'demon child', not that they said it in as many words, of course. But if an Inuzuka 'overlooked' a scent here until the trail was cold, or a Hyuga or Uchiha 'forgot' to activate their doujutsu there, who could prove otherwise? And as for the few who actively concealed evidence... well, the ROOT program had been shut down, so they couldn't possibly exist, could they?

The boy had lost track of so much time. As bone shards were inserted all over his body, one at a time, he was hurt more and more, he got weaker, his senses shut down... in short, he was dying. The snake-eyed man, called Orochimaru-sama by his subordinates, watched. The experiment was failing. Kimmimaro could no longer afford to donate bone shards. If it hadn't been for the blond brat's marrow, injected directly into his bones, Kimmimaro would have been useless long ago. These reports had the brat healing well for the first few weeks, but then his bones had begun their breakdown. At this point, the boy was a burden on their resources. Ironically, much like the Konoha medics, the researchers here relegated the boy to some out-of-the-way corner to die.

Naruto knew he was dying. It was hard not to as his hearing dulled, his eyesight dimmed and his sense of smell and taste shut down. The very act of moving too fast was enough to break bones now, and too fast was any motion quicker than a slow, time-consuming crawl. Since he was of little other use, the researchers had attempted to strengthen his failing bones with that silvery, chakra-conductive metal, but with little effect. In fact, the malaise that seemed to be breaking the boy down was corroding the metal implants, breaking them down and whisking them away through his bloodstream. Now all he could do was wait for death...

As he closed his eyes one more time, uncertain if they'd ever open again, he saw that vague silhouette of that girl, and wished he at least knew who she was.

* * *

It had been three months since Naruto disappeared. No-one was looking anymore, except the white-haired old spymaster Jiraiya. He'd even given up writing to search, a fact that depressed the former ANBU called Hatake Kakashi. But he was the only one allowed to look, by order of the council. It hadn't been a unanimous vote, but for some reason the edict had gone out. The Toad Sage had spent a week lamenting the fact that his information network in his home village was... underdeveloped (say rather, non-existent), and had then thrown himself into both building it up and investigating the disappearance. In a move uncharacteristic for him, the 'Legendary Super-Pervert' even eschewed his 'research' in favour of these tasks, and did not like the results... or rather, the lack of them. Someone was sabotaging his efforts...

The Academy took in its next class in another three months, and most of the prospective students couldn't care less about this whole mess. A number of them were even glad that the incorrigible prankster was gone. But there was one little girl who looked around shyly, searching for him with her pale, moon-like eyes and quietly crying at his absence. Every day, in the corner of her garden, she would open a bento-box and put out enough lunch for a person to eat... remembering a boy who had saved her.

* * *

It was ironic, in a way, that the very neglect that threatened Naruto's life, the wasting of his bones, led to his salvation. Deep inside the seal on his belly, a seal none had seen for the boy could not channel chakra yet, nor mould it to any purpose, the Kyuubi no Yoko took note of its jailer's plight. In the boy's weakened state it was easy to see the seal that trapped the biju within him, at least from here in Naruto's mindscape, and the effects were going to carry _both_ boy and beast into the afterlife. Spiteful as he could be, the demon-fox wanted to live a _lot_ more than he wanted revenge on his prison. Of course, he couldn't reach past the seal to do much without the damn thing triggering. All he could do was send out his chakra in a blind attempt to heal the boy, and he didn't know enough about humans for it to do any good. On top of that were the several shards of foreign bone in the boy, and the tissue rejection issues they were causing, as well as the boy's general shutdown.

Fortunately, perhaps, the Kyuubi could feel he wasn't alone in here. The Seal held two more segments of chakra, suppressed and contained for specific triggers. He could feel these triggers, and knew how to set them off, and _those_ chakra signatures wouldn't trip the seal's failsafes. He just had to do this right...

Stretching out with the thickest strand of his demonic chakra he could manage without tripping the seal, the fox gently eased the boy into his mindscape, a vast, sewer-like construction with a single incongruous ray of sunlight. Usually, the thing was overflowing with stagnant water, but in Naruto's current state of mind, it was blood, thick and black. Although Naruto was shocked and scared when he saw the Kyuubi, he was truly beyond caring what happened to him.

**[Wake up, boy,]** the demon rumbled, its words appearing in Naruto's strained mind without passing through his ears, **[or don't you want to find out who the girl is?]**

Struggling to stand, the blond boy leaned against the bars. "I'm dying. Looks like I go to Jigoku if I'm seeing the Fox that the Yondaime Hokage killed..." He was too hurt to flinch as the Killing Intent of the Kyuubi washed through him.

**[**_**KILL ME!?**_**] **he roared. **[That man barely had the power to seal me! And he was the strongest leader your village had **_**ever**_** seen.]** Shaking his head, the demon fox pushed his temper aside. Living was more important at the moment. **[Boy, if you want to live, you're going to have to pull down that seal. That will release what you need to survive.]**

It seemed a simple enough proposition, even to Naruto, but the very simplicity made it suspect. "And if I don't?"

**[Then we **_**both**_** die and your village will probably fall in as little as five years,]** the Kyuubi replied, pulling a wild guess from thin air. His eyes narrowed as he went for the weak spot. **[Including that cute little vixen you can never quite recall...]**

That did the trick. Naruto reached up with the full intent to shred that seal... and found his wrist caught by a man who greatly resembled the Yondaime. The demon fox didn't even pause for breath or to let the man speak as he extended a tendril of his power towards the boy, commanding as he did so. **[Master it, boy, take it inside you and claim it!]**

Without thinking, Naruto attempted that very thing, even as a confused looking Yondaime glared at the fox. The effort smashed the boy's conscious mind deeper into oblivion, even as a red-haired woman appeared. The last he knew of anything was the fox's 'voice'.

**[We don't have time, he and by extension that means me as well... we're dying. I have the power to fix it, but can't reach beyond the seal, and don't know how. The two of you can, and may just know enough...]**

* * *

Had anyone thought to check, they might have noticed the boy sweating and curling into a ball, wracked with pain as red chakra surged through him in a curiously controlled manner, super-charging his immune system and laying hold of _any_ material it could use to rebuild him. His senses were rebuilt, sharper than ever, more potent, sight and sound and scent... His bones were strengthened and healed, stronger than ever, shifted around as Kimmimaro's kekkei genkai was assimilated in a unique manner, as claws, blades of bone stronger than tempered steel, grew within his arms, and the muscles and nerves surrounding them shifted to facilitate their use... The bones were further strengthened as the remnants of the chakra conductive metal were retrieved from within his system, and plated onto and tempered with his bones. The last and possibly most essential phase was the enhancement of the kekkei genkai of the Uzumaki line, the unknown factor that allowed them to heal quickly, and resist diseases and poisons, as well as maintain a lifespan at least half again that of others. This would mean his wounds would heal impossibly fast, and his immune system would vastly increase, rendering him almost immune to toxins and illness.

As the chakra infusions that were all that was left of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina faded, the Yondaime's echo turned to the demon fox. "You've only got three hours, use them well, and get him to somewhere or someone safe if you can." He then suppressed the seal as he faded away, smiling at Kushina, sacrificing themselves for their son a second time.

* * *

It was perhaps fortunate for Orochimaru that he, Kimmimaro and his top spy from Konoha were not present when this happened. Over the course of two hours, every living creature in the base that was not a prisoner was used to paint the walls a most horrific shade of red, and then, leaving a number of dazed and terrified former experiments and prisoners behind (although in Orochimaru's strongholds the difference was negligible), the creature that had slaughtered so many tore across the countryside at top speed.

* * *

Senju Tsunade glared at the dice before her. The hard sixes. Six times, she'd rolled, asking the proprietor if someone might have swapped out her dice for loaded ones. No-one else who'd rolled them had managed to score the highest 'hand' in the game. One more time she picked the dice up, all six of them, dropping them one by one into the cup, rattling it hard, and casting them. Again, the six dice all showed the same face... the circle of six dots representing a crown. Pushing her winnings across the table, along with her case of IOUs, she asked a favour of the house.

"Could you see that these debts get paid off, please?" she requested, slightly shocking her apprentice Shizune. "If my luck is holding true to form, I may not live to." Gathering the rest of her things, including a purse containing a modest sum (as compared to the massive pile of ryo she'd left inside), she immediately began to leave town, with Shizune pushing herself to keep up, with no idea what was about to happen.

* * *

The savage creature that was, to all outward appearances, a nine-year-old boy, raced through the forest and the storm as though the very hounds of the Hells were at his heels. Where he could, he simply forced his way through, and where he was blocked... his new claws made sure that he was not blocked for long. The fox that was riding his mind, guiding him through instinct, could feel the seal beginning to close, and had little desire to collapse for what would be years to him and wake up as a pile of wild animal droppings. So he pushed the boy's body harder, as if by sheer will he could get him some where safe, heading by instinct closer to Konohagakure no Sato.

When he burst out of the shrubbery onto the road, which he had not expected, he paused for a critical moment as he turned to assess where he was, and heard a pair of voices gasp in unison, and a pig squeal in fear. Focusing on the travelers he'd just startled (or terrorised, whatever word worked best) he saw a tall blonde woman with an oversized pair of breasts (she smelled older than she looked, for some reason) and a shorter black-haired woman with a more modest figure holding a panicking piglet. Then the seal slammed shut, and Naruto's face eased back from the savage snarl into a puzzled look, as he collapsed in the street.

Tsunade stared at the boy who'd leapt from the bushes at the roadside, far too exhausted to notice them until too late. She could see the scars fading as what remained of serious wounds healed before her very eyes, in seconds rather than weeks. His clothes, what remained of them, had once been hospital-issue, but were now little more than decorative ribbons. He looked familiar, too, as though she'd seen him somewhere before... She shook her head as she took in the last detail, the most surprising: the blades that emerged from his hands, three on each, each a good eight inches long and from what she could see, sharp as a razor. A kekkei genkai, perhaps? The blades seemed to be metal, too, that chakra sensitive alloy that some shinobi used for their weapons. Still, he was a boy, and unconscious. Sighing, she picked him up, and stroked the muscles of his arms like a cat's paws, hoping the blades would retract. They did, and the Queen of Slugs and Elixirs turned to her apprentice.

"We'd better set up camp for the night, Shizune. We're not going to get far now." As they stepped from the road, Tsunade increased the chakra flow to her muscles a fraction. From the weight of the boy, she'd guess that his entire skeleton was that bone-metal amalgam, and that his muscles were sturdier to handle the extra mass. The little gaki was _heavy_!

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes, and immediately regretted it. They were extremely sensitive, and the sunlight he stared up into was painfully bright until they adjusted. Rubbing at his eyes as he rolled to face away from the sky, he learned his muscles were incredibly sore. The pain was fading, almost completely gone in fact, but there was a residual ache that was slow to depart. He could hear breathing from nearby, and looked in that direction.

Over ten feet away, the two women (looking vaguely familiar; He didn't have much recall of how he got here) were sitting by a small fire, discussing something in some scroll they were looking at. As he lifted himself, absently noticing he was heavier than he remembered, they looked in his direction. Their voices were incredibly loud to his ears, and he covered both with his hands to filter the noises. The old one who didn't look it smelled overwhelmingly of sake, and the other had some rather acrid scents about her. It looked like this would be quite the challenge.

* * *

Jiraiya was following a lead. Somewhere out in this direction was one of Orochimaru's little strongholds, and it was in this direction that his meagre clues brought him. As he trudged along, he came to a gambling den where he overheard an interesting snippet of conversation.

"So there she was, all night, casting the worst hands possible at any given time, and she's about to chuck it in as a bad lot when Kudama eggs her into putting everything she's got left on the hard sixes. She goes him one better and calls hard sixes by seven, apparently figuring if she won she could clear her debts, but if she lost, it wasn't like she'd owe us any more." The speaker was a rough-looking gambler type with a case of IOUs and another filled with money, gradually dispensing the latter to the proper claims of the former as he spoke. "Please, bear in mind this is the Legendary Sucker."

As the other gamblers chuckled, Jiraiya frowned. Tsunade was out this way as well? That was quite a coincidence. He returned his attention to the gambler's story.

"So, yeah, Kudama covers it, figuring it's a sure thing, and puts his stake all in. Then she casts them, seven times. The hard sixes, the ring of crowns, whatever you want to call it. She frowns a bit, and casts twice more. Same thing, and Kudama's about to call her for cheating when she passes _me_ the dice and asks if someone's switched them out! Beats him to it! So of course I send them round the table once, and they're just regular dice. Even Kudama gets them, and double checks them. So she gets the dice back and throws again and again and again. Now she's really staring at the dice, glaring at them almost, and she throws her last hand. Hard sixes. She's won, and asks me to see to her debts. Kudama insists she's got to be using loaded dice and points at her as she's leaving, and an extra set of dice falls out of his sleeve. Now everyone sees how suspicious that is, so I pick up the dice on the table and cast. Sure enough they're loaded... for all the ones. Seems Kudama switched them when he was looking them over. So we had Oniyama take him out back to... discuss things with him."

As the gamblers laughed riotously, the Toad Sage calmly walked away... at least to outward appearances. No-one knew better than he how Tsunade's luck ran. If she'd scored such a massive win, her life was most likely in danger...

Breaking into a run, he chased her rumoured path from the vilage.

* * *

Naruto stared at the claws that extended from his hand. After explaining where they'd found him... or rather, he'd found _them_, they had told him of what they'd seen. He'd always healed quickly, if not _this _fast, and he'd rapidly learned how to focus his senses, from self-defence if nothing else, but they'd had to help coax the three blades from his arm. There was a particular muscular twist to it, and a similar one to retract them, and of course, he had to want them to do so. A moment's testing was all they needed to determine that yes, his bones were all melded with the silvery chakra conductive metal that now laced them. It presented an interesting idea for a shinobi to have weapons that couldn't be taken away from them, but in most such cases rejection issues clouded what was possible.

As the three packed up their camp, the older lady, Tsunade, spoke. "I can't believe we forgot to ask, gaki," she apologised, sort of. "What's your name?"

"Naruto," he replied, handing Shizune the folded bedding to place in a storage seal. "Uzumaki Naruto." He realised, falsely, that these two nice women wouldn't want to travel with him anymore, and sighed as the Sannin lady stiffened, which to his young mind confirmed his guess. "If you could just point the way to Konoha, I'll get out of your hair... sorry to bother you..."

He lost what he was trying to say as Tsunade grabbed his shoulders and began investigating his face... yes, her features were there, a little harder at the edges, mixed with the father's... and with that blond mop, there was only one person _that_ could be. Seeing the fear start to rise in his face she loosened her grip as she crouched, talking with him on an eye to eye level. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, it's just... I knew your mother. When I heard she was killed, I was told her child, her son, didn't survive... that he'd been killed by the Kyuubi."

A vague image rose in Naruto's mind. The three figures he'd seen last night, working together... The Kyuubi providing the chakra, the redhead focusing it and the Yondaime directing it... into him. He didn't know who they were, but from what the Hokage had said to him... they were probably his parents. He couldn't picture anyone else, with a handful of exceptions including these two nice ladies, who cared enough to save him. He was about to speak when a suddden explosion of smoke burst in front of them and an old white-haired man in red and green, standing on the back of an outsized toad appeared, beginning to loudly proclaim himself, hurting the boy's ears.

Jiraiya had spotted the boy, and with the two women distracted, had decided on a fine prank to get back in the swing of his normal routine. As he appeared he began his speech, hoping to impress Naruto and tick off Tsunade, just a little. "Attend," he cried, striking a pose on the back of Gamatoro, one of the battle-toads of Mount Myoboku. "I am the mighty Toad... Sage..."

His planned speech was cut short as Naruto flicked his arms outward and his claws sprang forth with a meaty 'snikt'. By instinct, the boy crossed the blades across his chest, guarding his vitals as he watched the intruder. He was worried, but if these nice ladies were in trouble, he'd help them... Not that it seemed necessary as Tsunade gritted out the newcomer's name, in pieces...

"Ji-rai-ya," she said, almost sweetly if you could ignore the grinding teeth behind it. As he glanced in her direction, she hit him, driving him hard across the clearing until he hit a tree on the far side. "We just got him calmed down you old fool!" she hissed in the aftermath as Naruto put his claws away, making the mental note not to piss her off unless he _really_ had to.


	2. Seal 2: Return

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Excellent couch (Sofa, so good).

**Second Seal: Return.**

Explaining things to Jiraiya took time, especially when they hadn't heard Naruto's side of the story yet. Horrified by what had happened to him, Jiraiya came to a decision fairly rapidly once all their stories were told. What Naruto hadn't been able to understand, however was something far more basic.

"Lady Tsunade," he said (respect for someone _that_ strong was a good thing, he thought), "If you were told I was dead, and _he_ knew I was alive, why didn't you two ever compare notes? Why didn't one of you, since you both knew my parents, make sure I was okay?"

Jiraiya cast his mind back, striving to recall every time the subject of Naruto's well-being had come up. He could recall talking to his old Sensei, the Sandaime Hokage, but there was more... someone else was always there. A man with a heavily bandaged arm and face... Shimura Danzou. Why, he didn't know, but it was very suspicious. "Naruto, I was always told you were doing fine," he explained. "I trusted the man who told me that, and perhaps I shouldn't have, but that was my mistake. I don't know how I'm going to make it up to you, though." He paused a moment. "I have a plan. I'm the only one left looking for you, Naruto, so I can pretend to keep searching, throwing people off the scent. It was mostly luck I found you this time anyway. If Lady Tsunade is willing, would you like to get some early training for the Academy from her and Shizune." The Toad Sage was pointedly ignoring the glares from his old team-mate at this point.

Sighing, Tsunade turned to the boy. Truth be told, he was safer out here with her than he was in Konoha for now. Maybe they could figure out what had happened to him, and why his abilities were so far enhanced. "I'm happy to teach you if you want, Naruto," she agreed, deciding to pass the first part of his training off on Shizune. "But I'm not sure how much you can learn before the academy starts."

Nodding, Jiraiya spoke up again. "I'll report to the old man that you're taking him under your wing after finding him, to help him recover from the after-effects of Orochimaru's experiments. I guess we can just thank our lucky stars that our former team-mate didn't realise what he had in Naruto. Once he's up to par, you'll send word, and I'll come and bring him home. Does that sound good?"

The adults all nodded, and Naruto put his chin in his hand as he thought. "I guess... I'm going to miss Ichiraku ramen, though."

* * *

The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Professor, the God of Shinobi, sat staring at Jiraiya's mission report, before destroying it with a quick, localised fire jutsu. Danzou would never find out about this if he had anything to do with it. Turning to his former student, he asked a question he'd been dreading. "Your opinion?"

Jiraiya leaned against the wall. "Physically, the kid's fine. A little traumatized by the experiments Old Snake-lips performed, but Tsunade can handle that. The effects that resulted? No idea. I found the stronghold afterwards, and I'm fairly sure that the kid doesn't even realise what happened to the guards and researchers there. It's possible his... travelling companion... dealt with them for him, but then why would it release him?" He shook his head, too many questions there, including: Why didn't the Kyuubi kill the other victims? Returning to the topic at hand he chuckled. "You should have seen him, sensei," he said. "The way he lit up when he heard that he'd be getting a head start on the academy. At least he'll be on par with some of the clan-taught cadets. But then there's those claws... Have you ever heard of a kekkei genkai involving bones or metal before?"

Hiruzen stroked his pointed beard. "Metal? There's the Byakku Clan in Kumo, maybe, but I think they're just gifted weaponsmiths... As for bone... there was the Kaguya Clan in Mizu no Kuni, but they were wiped out in the bloodline purges. If there's even one left, I'd be surprised." He was even more thoughtful. If this new trait became a kekkei genkai, that would mean Naruto had two bloodline limits. No-one else in Konoha had that. It had been tried, of course, and back in the Nidaime Hokage's reign there had been an ill-fated romance between a Hyuuga girl and an Uchiha boy... sadly all their children had been born blind, so both Clans had passed laws, as had the village, prohibiting children from such unions. If anyone found out about it, the blasted village council, the civilian side at least, would try to enforce that cursed CRA, the Clan Restoration Act. Hiruzen thought the end of that acronym lacked a 'P'. They'd slipped it into existence between the death of the Yondaime and his taking the reigns again, and he didn't have the support to overturn it... yet. If he could get all the shinobi clans and a few civilians on his side, it would be another matter. Lifting his head, he turned to the window as he spoke. "I'm trying to see a way out of this, but I'm walking in the dark," he whispered.

His former student grinned. "So let's start a fire," he replied.

* * *

Orochimaru stared at the charred ruins that had once been one of his strongholds. It was utterly destroyed for his purposes now. As he'd explored the facility before putting it to the torch, he had to admit that whoever had done this had a certain... flair for decorating. He giggled as he stepped over body parts. From some of the damage, if he hadn't know any better, he'd have sworn that he'd turned Kimimaro loose on the place. No survivors, and all prisoners-slash-experimental subjects had been liberated. Oh, well.

"Time for a change of scenery anyway," he said as he set off towards the north, and Ta no Kuni. "The next chunin exams in Konoha are in three years, and I need my pieces in place by then..."

* * *

Hinata was miserable. Her father was a strict man, unbending at times, but he'd been forced to it by the deaths of his twin in that mess when she was three, and then his wife, her mother from complications following the birth of Hanabi, her little sister. The division in the Hyuuga Clan didn't help anything, either, and even her cousin Neji was disdainful of her 'weakness'. Since that day long ago, she'd secretly spied on the blond boy who'd taken the beating of those bullies for her, while she wished she'd been able to help him. Even if she'd just distracted one, she felt it would have been enough, that Naruto would have managed to take the other four and then...

She was interrupted in her musings by her sister's demands to fight her. Hanabi was proving something of a prodigy, and was easily able to 'defeat' her big sister in the sparring matches. Mostly because she refused to accept the gentle touches Hinata used as the nigh-crippling blows they would have been with chakra behind them. The elders seemed to back the younger girl's arrogance. It was almost as if they _wanted_ the children of Hiashi to cripple one another. And Neji had been caught up in a fatalistic display, always going on about 'fate' this and 'destiny' that... it was depressing. Even if Hinata were to use the full force of the Gentle Fist, she knew exactly where that would get her: the elders would accuse her of trying to cripple her sister, and cast doubt on her suitability as the heiress _that_ way. Sighing, she went to lose again...

* * *

Kakashi stood by the memorial stone, staring at a number of names he knew well, all dead and gone. Namikaze Minato, his sensei, died sealing the Kyuubi, and his wife Uzumaki Kushina with him, holding down the demon fox so he could. Uchiha Obito, his best friend and the source of his Sharingan eye, died protecting his team on a mission that had gone bad. Nohara Rin, his other team-mate, a strong medic-nin and a girl he might have married, died at his hand rather than destroy the village when the Sanbi that was sealed into her broke free. There were many others. He dreaded having to put the names of cadets up there, but it happened. The Hokage had asked him to assess graduating teams with an eye towards shinobi work, and he knew that he would accept nothing less than the best. Looking at the two bells in his hand, he set off towards the academy.

* * *

The weeks passed slowly, and Naruto grew stronger. His teachers had introduced him to chakra manipulation, and he'd taken to it like a duck to water. Reading and writing lessons saw him more reluctant, but Tsunade had made him a deal, get it all to _her_ standard by the time they got back to Konoha, and she'd buy him all he could eat at that Ichiraku Ramen place. So the blond knucklehead was motivated to study. As the lessons progressed, he found his chakra control was iffy. His massive reserves were the most likely cause of this, he was told. It was like the difference between damming a creek, and damming a river. You needed more for the river than the creek, so his progress there would be slow. It might take years to master and they had other lessons. His control wasn't fine enough for medical jutsu, so they taught him what they could of the basic procedures of emergency medicine that didn't need his chakra. While Shizune started him off to find a taijutsu style that suited him, preferably one that adapted well to his claws, and left room for his potential kekkei genkai (if he turned out to have one... but those claws hadn't come from nowhere), Tsunade researched his changes as best she could. Naruto learned a lot from the two medical kunoichi.

Jiraiya visited on occasion, when he happened to be in the area, and he started Naruto on the basics of what he said was his father's specialty (not that he mentioned him by name... he told the disappointed boy that only three people had the right to tell him, and he wasn't one of them): Fuinjutsu, the art of sealing. It was a lot of theory, involved math, and the study of symbols, but by the time Naruto returned to Konoha, he could manage a small storage seal. Naruto began to suspect that his abduction may have been the best thing that ever happened to him... and then he remembered the pain... not even the village's annual mob had inflicted anywhere near that level of pain and agony upon him.

* * *

Jiraiya looked on as Tsunade counted out the boy's share of of the group's cash, which she then placed in a storage seal that he put in a pocket. Jiraiya looked at the boy's loud orange outfit, too, and shook his head. "Do you really think it's possible to be stealthy in that outfit?" he asked. The outfit in question was a pair of pants and jacket over a mesh shirt. "I mean, really, kid, orange?"

Naruto had had time to think on this one. "What colour's a tiger, Ero-sennin?" He'd caught the old man writing one night and peeked over his shoulder... his cry of lost innocence had brought the other sannin and her apprentice running, shortly before Jiraiya decided he should be running, and the nick-name had been coined... and stuck. As the boy waved goodbye to Shizune and Tsunade, the Toad Sage paused to think. That dark blue on the jacket, the black under-shirt, even the lines on the pants, all served to break up the orange outline. On top of that, from what he could see, the outfit was reversible... "_Dammit!_" he cursed to himself. The boy was right. Oh, he was going to be a real menace... he'd have to listen to his new network in Konoha very closely, just to hear about the pranks.

* * *

Hinata sat on a bench just inside the gates of Konoha, well within the view of the gate guards and her minder for the day, a Branch Family Hyuuga by the name of Ko. She wasn't happy about the man, who seemed determined to deny her enjoyment in anything. It had been he that had struck a certain boy in the head for daring to defend her from bullies, and he'd smiled as he did it, knowing the boys had been lying. As it was she was practicing with her Byakugan, gradually building up how long she could hold it active for, and counting the birds in the trees beyond the gates. Thus it was she who first saw the approaching pair, an old man with spiky white hair, and a boy with spiky blond hair. They were playing some kind of word game as they walked, at the same time bouncing a ball back and forth between them. As her vision focused in closer, she saw the features of the old man, but couldn't recognise him. The boy on the other hand...

NARUTO WAS BACK! The Hyuuga heiress went bright red and fainted... and he wasn't even in the village yet.

* * *

Hyuuga Ko was watching his charge as she practiced the bird-counting exercise, a task for children (that Hinata was only nine meant little, she was the Clan heiress, and should be better). On seeing her blush, and faint, he activated his own Byakugan. There was only _one_ situation that provoked that kind of reaction from Lady Hinata... whenever that demon-fox boy was near...

There! Outside the gate, with that old man. Seeing that his charge was unconscious, and the gate guards were two men he knew had no love for the Kyuubi-brat, he spoke to them. "That demon's coming back, he's out there now. I'm going to stop him. Want to help?"

Two quick nods and the impromptu assassination squad assembled, stepping outside the village and vanishing. The old man had to be distracted, and that was the task before Kurai, the younger of the two guards. The older, Hattori, was the look-out and back-up in case something went wrong. As they closed in, the plan started out perfectly. Kurai stepped out and threw a smoke-bomb, and the old man moved after him, having let his guard down this close to Konoha, not expecting a threat from inside the village... which he should have... Was he slipping in his old age? It was then that Hyuuga Ko made his attack, a kunai in each hand. The boy had limited strength and leverage, he might have been able to hold back one arm, but certainly not two...

It is said that battle plans seldom survive contact with the enemy, and Ko's hastily assembled attack lacked three very important pieces of information. First, the old man was the Toad Sage, with quicker reactions than most and decades more experience than his foes. Second, Naruto's new changes had given him a veritable arsenal for blunt trauma, even if he didn't extend his claws to cut his enemies. And third, Naruto had been trained by Tsunade, for whom the term 'extreme blunt force trauma' was a severe understatement.

As the kunai came down at speed, Naruto stepped forward, just as Shizune had drilled him, and raised both forearms in a chopping motion, not so much an aggressive block, as a simultaneous directed blow at his attacker's elbows, which were easier to reach than his wrists, descending faster. The bonemetal in the young jinchuuriki's fists and arms took the impact easily, and Ko's arms bent at the elbows... in the wrong direction... with a sickening crack. Naruto didn't stop there, unfortunately, following his taijutsu style that he and Shizune had begun to hammer out... one part monkey style, one part tiger style, and three parts street fights and brawling. As Ko dropped to his knees in pain, trying in vain to clutch his arms close, Naruto's hands pushed the adult Hyuuga's arms out wide, something unpleasant for Ko to say the least, and drove his head forward to impact squarely on the man's hitai-ate with a sound not unlike a bell, rolling the man's white eyes back in his head as he dropped into unconsciousness. Jiraiya had rounded up the derelict guards and strode into the village with one on each shoulder, even as the blond boy dragged his opponent into the village. It was a pity he hadn't mastered Lady Tsunade's strength augmentation yet, or he would have thrown the man. Naruto had a vague image of him in his head, and a dislike bordering on hatred. Leaving the securely bound gate-guards and the incapacitated Ko (who later needed minor surgery to remove his hitai-ate from his forehead), Jiraiya pointed at the nearby bench with its unconscious occupant.

"Naruto, you wait there while I go report this," he ordered. Naruto nodded. The difference between serious Jiraiya and regular Ero-sennin was something the two of them had hashed out in short order. "Keep an eye on the girl and the gate, if an invasion occurs, ask yourself what I would do."

The nine-year-old boy grinned. "Pick up the girl and run?" he cheeked, startling a laugh from the old man, even as he sat beside her, noticing her scent. She smelled of a garden and sunlight, he decided. It was a good scent, one he'd remember. Shaking his head, Jiraiya leapt to the rooftops and went to report.

* * *

The bench was a comfortable place, and Naruto was not hard tasked by Jiraiya's directives. His thoughts wandered back to the first few days after Tsunade and Shizune had taken him in. At first he'd been fine, but then the nightmares would set in, and the snake-eyed madman would come back for him, with a set of scalpels and a giggled, "Can't have you running around with _my_ property, now can we?" And as the knives made their first cut he would wake from the horrors and tremble, a cold sweat covering him as he cried, screaming "Why? Why did he do this to me?"

It had taken Tsunade and Shizune both a long time to get through to him. There was no way they could tell why Orochimaru had done this. He was insane, and obsessed with collecting jutsu, and the kekkei genkai were, by definition, jutsu he couldn't have. So he wanted them even more. It was Tsunade's words that made the most sense to him though. "If Orochimaru could be understood by us, truly understood, that would mean either we were as mad as he is, or that he was sane. Since he obviously isn't, maybe it's a good thing we can't understand him."

He still had the nightmares, but they were less frequent, and he rarely woke up with his claws ready anymore.

The blond jinchuuriki glanced at the sleeping girl as a breeze whispered across them, and she shivered. Taking off his jacket, he laid it over the girl, and returned to his vigil, waiting for someone to come.

* * *

"He's that strong?" Hiruzen asked in a serious tone. It was just bad timing on Jiraiya's part that Danzou had been here when he came to report in. The old war-hawk had demanded the boy be arrested for attacking the guards, only to be shot down.

"They were outside the village, and approaching peacefully while playing a game, and they were attacked by our guards who'd abandoned their posts and a Hyuuga ninja who abandoned his charge," the Hokage said wearily. "If anyone should be punished, I believe it should be the ones who started the attack." He waved away Danzou's advice. "So where is he?"

Jiraiya snorted. "As if I'd leave the gate unguarded. He's down there keeping an eye out for us, and watching the Hyuuga girl sleep. I'd get a some trusted ANBU and new guards down there quickly, were I you."

Hiruzen nodded and rang the bell by his desk. His assistant poked his head through the doorway. "I need Cat's ANBU team down to the gate, with a new set of guards. The current guards and Hyuuga Ko are to be taken to Ibiki-san. Then send for Hatake Kakashi, please," the Hokage said, and the other man nodded. Turning back to Jiraiya he went on, only to stumble to a halt. "You'd best... get back to Naruto..." he trailed off, for Jiraiya had obviously anticipated Hiruzen's orders.

* * *

Hinata was warm, and felt... safe. She didn't want to open her eyes in case she had only dreamed that the boy who'd saved her was back, after six months of absence. She could however hear the argument that was going on as she sat there, with someone's jacket over her... that alone convinced her that Naruto's return was real. She couldn't think of anyone, not even Neji, who would put their own jacket over her simply because she was sleeping. Cracking one eye just a little, she could see her cousin, looking angry, as the blue-eyed boy stood between him and... Ko? Why was her minder for the day lying there trussed up like a chicken? She began sorting through the angry noises her cousin was making, to get the gist of the fight. Neji was in his second year at the Academy, as opposed to regular schooling, and was trying to assert his non-existent authority from that. Naruto, at least she hoped it was Naruto, was having none of it.

"I was told to wait here and watch what's going on," he said, a little irritated by the older boy. "It took me ten minutes to set that... fool's... arms, and I'd rather you didn't cause my prisoner any more pain until _after_ he's in T&I, okay?" The blunt nature of the words seemed to aggravate the Hyuuga boy's sense of superiority.

"As if _you_ could defeat a full grown shinobi," he sneered, and again reached to release the wires.

Naruto once again slapped Neji's hands away from Ko. "He underestimated me, and didn't have anywhere near as much surprise as he thought. And if you do that again, I'll stop holding back."

Neji paused as this boy, a year younger than he if he was any judge, made that threat. He was beginning to learn the real intricacies and art of the Gentle Fist style, and was already being praised as a genius, so he didn't feel threatened by anyone, and feared only those who were obviously better. "What do you mean, holding back?" he demanded, even as they were attracting an audience. Hinata had seen them all, children around their own age from the Academy, and those who would be starting this year, gathering to watch the event. She straightened on the bench, and finally noticed the colour of the jacket covering her... it was orange, with a red spiral in the centre of the back and a white one on the left shoulder. It _was_ Naruto!

So startled was she, that she nearly missed Naruto's response. It was simple, but definitely effective. He turned and hammered his fist against a heavy wooden post, driving an imprint of his fist into the hard wood with an odd ringing sound. As the others watched the post, staring at the shape of Naruto's hand, she followed his motion. The impact was indeed impressive, but she saw the blond boy wince as he shook his knuckles, even as the split skin mended. She saw it... Hitting the post had gotten his point across, but she could see it hurt him. Even as she stood, attracting the attention of her cousin and Naruto, the ANBU arrived, with a new pair of guards to take over the gate watch. Behind them was the Toad sage who waved the blond over.

"Hey, Naruto!" he yelled, startling everyone _except_ Hinata as they finally recognised the long absent prankster that had finally returned. As they stood and stared, realising exactly who he was, Naruto rubbed the back of his neck absently. That was the mannerism that cinched it. He looked a little different after his ordeal, and it took an old gesture to convince the other ninja cadets of his identity. Although Hinata had recognised him from the start.

"Umm... hi, guys?" he said, sheepishly. "Hey, keep the jacket, Hime, I can get another one, and you look like you need it more." He darted away with the white-haired old man, even as Hinata blushed bright red. But she _did _put the jacket on, they noticed.

It was the young Nara heir, Shikamaru, who pretty much summed up what every one was thinking. "This won't be boring, but man this is going to be troublesome."


	3. Seal 3: Graduate

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Don't suffer from insanity; enjoy every second of it.

**Author's Note: **In response to the first real Flame I have ever received (I feel like I've hit the big time), I wish to reiterate certain things from my profile. Having received one, I ask why this person felt the need to flame/review if all he was going to do was berate me for my choice of pairing? As I have mentioned on my profile, "The purpose of fanfiction seems to me to lie in the 'what if?', and that's where we come in. Everyone has different tastes and ideas of what's right when it comes to what they read, and **none **of them are wrong. If it helps, just consider it a totally different story whose characters happen to have the same names."

**Third Seal: Graduate**

The Shinobi Academy of Konohagakure no Sato was considered to be second only to that of Kumogakure no Sato for the quality of its education, although by the rumours and intelligence Jiraiya had gathered from his new network, it _was_ declining thanks to the civilians on the council interfering with the curriculum. As he glared at the information he'd laid out on the Hokage's desk, the older man having finally been alone for once, he pointed out the discrepancies.

"Shinobi history in Konoha is being edited, and quite openly, too. Did you know that none of our young cadets knew about Uzushio, let alone why the entire shinobi force above chunin wears its symbols?" He spoke in a low, forceful tone. Three years ago, a bitter Hyuuga Hiashi had seen his daughter in the jacket that Naruto had given her, a jacket too large for her at the time, that she had refused to give up. Konoha now had _two_ ninja candidates wearing orange... and surprisingly, they made better marks in the stealth training courses than anyone else. "If that's not bad enough, graduating genin-candidates are only tested on three ninjutsu, and by coincidence," Jiraiya's tone did not agree with his words, being heavily laden with sarcasm, "those are the three that take the least chakra to use, even if they do require a certain amount of control."

Hiruzen shook his head as he listened to his spymaster. It got worse, he knew. He'd read Jiraiya's report, and knew the relevant information, so this meeting was more of a strategy session than anything else. As things stood, Naruto, with his huge reserves and terrible control, was going to fail. That a higher number of other students were also likely to, than at any point in the past decade, pointed to a conspiracy. The written tests were horrible, but when Naruto had proven able to spot a genjutsu seal on the test papers themselves that he was given, that course of sabotage had been abandoned. If it had not been for his lack of fine control, Jiraiya was certain the young jinchuuriki would have made shinobi already... if that was his desire.

* * *

Naruto sat on a log beside a public park, watching the children play under the watchful eyes of their parents and minders. He was no fool, and knew they would chase him away if they could. He'd been so close to success last time he'd tried, but it was no good. No matter how hard he tried, he just didn't have the fine control he needed to use the bunshin no jutsu. His taijutsu was up to par with the others, even if he hadn't revealed his real edge, keeping his claws concealed. To the surprise of many, he'd become adept with the tonfa, wielded in each hand, as they seemed to blend with his taijutsu quite well, although he'd never explain why he'd chosen them. In truth, he hadn't, but Shizune had noted on one of her trips to Konoha (Tsunade still refused to set foot in the village, even to visit Naruto) that they might be good training for when he did use his claws.

It was also on one of these trips that the young medic-nin had discovered that Naruto did indeed have two kekkei genkai... his own, from the Uzumaki lineage, and the second, which had most likely come about as a result of the experiments Orochimaru had performed. It was hard to explain, but she felt he would be able to channel his chakra into the manipulation of his very bones... they were well-nigh indestructible after all, and the ability to manipulate them could come in handy. So far, no luck, although they did channel chakra easily. He'd been told to ask whoever his genin squad's jonin sensei was to explain elemental natures and chakra, as the big-sister figure that Shizune had become was eager to see what he'd be able to do in that area.

He'd been somewhat surprised by several of his reactions to others when he'd gotten to the Academy. He wasn't surprised that Sasuke had wanted to fight him a lot when they got there, and under the eye of Mizuki-sensei, the two had found themselves squared off in the sparring ring. The basic Academy style was modelled on the Uchiha style, enough so that it was hard to tell the difference at times, and the Uchiha boy had been heavily tutored until that horrible night when Itachi destroyed their clan, not long after Sasuke entered the Academy... not long after the boys' first match, in fact.

When Mizuki-sensei had restricted them to Academy style only, Naruto had groaned inwardly. It was all wrong for his body type, he needed a fast, sweeping style, and although the Academy style's straight-line motions made it a good first style to learn, Sasuke had years on Naruto in the use of it. So Naruto had waited, and left the other boy an opening in his guard... which Sasuke had promptly 'taken advantage' of. Despite the children not having forehead protectors, the forehead is quite hard, and as the Uchiha boy's fist drove past Naruto's 'defence', he dropped his head a fraction and took the blow on the hardest part of the skull for anyone. With his bonemetal, it was even harder on Naruto...

The sickening crunch as Sasuke's hand broke was clearly audible, and the Academy style kick that laid the pain-distracted boy out was textbook perfect, despite Narouto's lack of experience. If it hadn't been for his broken hand, the blond's opponent would have been easily able to block the knee to his gut, but as it was, he went down. As the medic-nin rushed over, Naruto added insult to injury as far as the Uchiha heir was concerned, as he crouched down beside the other boy and helped set the bones in his hand.

* * *

Naruto smiled as he recalled that day. He looked over towards the Academy yard, where Sasuke brooded against the wall, despite being tagged as rookie of the year. He did keep demanding fights from Naruto, which the blue-eyed boy accepted or blew off as he felt necessary. The Uchiha was obssessed with getting stronger, and putting the 'worthless trash' in his place. Naruto liked the place he was, thank you very much, and wasn't giving it up. He glanced over at the other boys, gathered in a group. Sometimes he'd even go along with them, but their parents were present today, as were those of everyone else, and Naruto didn't want to create friction.

His gaze trailed across to the girls, where Sakura and Ino were fighting again. Before he'd been abducted (here he shuddered; a nightmare had hit him hard the night before, and he'd woken up, claws out, screaming "NOT HER! NEVER HER!", although he couldn't remember any of the dream except that), Naruto had been drifting towards the pink-haired girl, but the moment he'd set foot in the classroom had put paid to anything like that, as the banshee screech the girl had apparently perfected against Ino had caused his highly sensitive ears some major pain... So rather than sit anywhere near the cause of such pain, he instead took a different seat, one next to the girl he'd given his jacket to... she was actually wearing it then too.

His eyes sharpened as he corrected an earlier thought. Not everyone had their parents present. Hinata's father wasn't there, or she would be over there with the other girls, but the distinct absence of the orange jacket she'd grown into (a little snug in some places, now, but she refused to part with it) pointed to her being...

He sniffed the air, catching her scent. His ears twitched, although he wished they wouldn't, as it was a dead give-away that he was focusing on his hearing, and he pinpointed where she was. There, behind _that_ tree, about ten feet behind him and to the left. He wondered why she did that, and vaguely recalled the 'discussion' Tsunade had had with him on his last trip to see her... something about girls noticing boys before the boys notice them, although he didn't fully understand it. Still, the Academy years had been good, and he'd made a few friends, to an extent, and learned a lot. Tomorrow was the last day before genin exams, an event he dreaded.

* * *

Hinata, for her part, was a clever young girl. She'd managed to fight off fainting in Naruto's presence when he'd sat beside her that first day in class by remembering that she was already wearing his jacket, even if she was certain he didn't fully understand what he'd done by giving her those symbols. In Konoha, it was becoming widely assumed that the symbols simply meant you were a chunin or higher shinobi, but as part of the Hyuuga, she had learned of their origins, and further, she knew what the laws surrounding clan symbols were, especially _those _ones. The chunin and jonin were permitted to wear the symbols as a sign of honour and respect, but the only others who could wear them were members of those clans. Much like the Uchiha fan becoming the emblem of the village's police force, the spirals symbolised an alliance that went back to the founding of Konoha itself.

The fact that he'd given her the jacket, if he'd been aware of the full connotations, would have been a major cause for celebration, to her at least, and her family had been reassessing their position on her since she started wearing it, but she'd come to a painful decision. Before they were assigned to genin teams, she'd have to explain the symbols... and return the jacket when he found out that handing over clan symbols like that could mean he was proposing to her...

* * *

The next afternoon saw Naruto seated on the swing, listening to the triumph and spite in the hate-filled voices of most of the parents as they nearly basked in the failure of the 'demon'. He didn't miss the smirk on Hyuuga Hiashi's face either, as he approached Hinata and spoke softly. The girl looked about to cry, which for some reason made the blond angrier than any number of direct and slanted insults could... he pushed that aside to think about later. The shadow that fell across him as he sat there belonged to the last person he'd ever have suspected... Mizuki-sensei. Hearing that there was an alternate exam to graduate struck some suspicions, but Naruto was desperate to pass.

"I'll do it, sensei," he said, solidifying it into a promise. "There's nothing that'll stop me, believe it!"

* * *

Despite second thoughts, and third and fourth thoughts as well, Naruto slipped up to the Hokage Tower. The locks were quite sturdy, and the doors were solid, but this didn't slow him down by much. To all outward appearances, the door was still locked, but swift work with one of his claws through the keyhole had totally ruined the lock as a means of keeping someone out. As he stealthily moved through the halls, Naruto was thinking hard. If this _was _a test, then why the Forbidden Scroll in Hokage Tower? Surely there were better things to 'steal' for such a test. And although he wasn't the 'dead last' by any means (that honour had fallen to Inuzuka Kiba, who seemed to feel he could coast by on the efforts of his partner Akamaru and the natural talents of the Inuzuka), Naruto was not the fastest to learn about new jutsu, so setting that part of the test was obviously meant to pin him down in one place... out in the forest beyond the walls? Yeah, right. The more the blue-eyed jinchuuriki thought about it, the worse he suspected that something was up. His earliest teachers, Shizune, Tsunade and Jiraiya, had never mentioned this test, nor had Iruka-sensei, who despite his firm, no-nonsense attitude, seemed to genuinely like Naruto (although not the ramen bill the boy had run up the one time he'd made the mistake of saying 'all you can eat'... most people only said that to Naruto once). So why?

As Naruto disabled the security seals surrounding the scroll, he made a decision. He'd sit here and read, learning what he could, until the Hokage showed up, and explain it to him. Maybe then he could figure out something to do.

* * *

Outside the tower, the Hokage was talking with his son Asuma over tea when the bandana wearing chunin sensei ran up to him. Touji Mizuki, he thought it was, but the man's words paralysed the village leader.

"Hokage-sama, it's Naruto," he gasped out, and Mizuki was a good actor. Orochimaru's spy had contacted him about getting hold of the scroll, and felt that the demon brat would be a bonus. So that was his motivation. "He's stolen the Forbidden Scroll of Seals!"

* * *

The chaos that ensued was immense, and as Hiruzen gave orders, he was already in motion, heading for his office. Giving the final instruction that Naruto was to captured _alive and unharmed_, instructions he'd felt bore repeating, he stepped into his office and closed the door.

"It took you long enough to get here, Jiji-sama," said Naruto, startling Hiruzen for a few more years off his lifespan, the old man was sure. "I got bored, so I figured I'd do a little reading while I waited."

As the Sandaime Hokage turned, he was greeted by the sight of Naruto sitting in his chair, behind his desk, with the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, the village's repository of kinjutsu, open before him. As Hiruzen's eyes widened, he noticed something else, something that only long experience had enabled him to spot.

"You're not the real Naruto, are you?" he asked, although it was more a statement to confirm what he already knew.

"Nahh," the Naruto look-alike behind the desk agreed. "My original felt he could learn a technique better here in your office than shivering in a shack out in the forest, but he didn't have time to learn more than one jutsu before Mizuki-sensei was supposed to meet with him. So he put the scroll on his back, used the kage bunshin no jutsu, swapped the scrolls and left for the meeting, with me guarding the _real_ scroll, not that anyone bothered checking on it, and I got bored waiting so I started reading. Although I had to look up about chakra nature and affinities, and I still don't understand it properly. Oh, and I was supposed to bring you up to date on why this is happening from my... well, my original's, end of the matter."

* * *

Iruka reached the shack to find Naruto sitting there, the scroll on his back watching the forest. Seconds before the chunin had gotten there, the shadow clone in the Hokage's office had dispersed itself, returning all the knowledge it had gathered to him, including the Hokage's approval for his little trap, but he could smell Mizuki approaching and hear the man moving through the shrubbery, and didn't have time to explain... He quickly gestured to his sensei for silence, and waved for him to hide himself, his eyes pleading silently for the chunin's trust.

Umino Iruka liked the blond boy, and thought he had huge potential as a shinobi, kage-level potential, in fact. While all his fellow teachers scoffed at the thought of the boy reaching that level, Iruka believed he could really do it, and wanted to help. When the word had gone out on the theft, he had immediately started out after the boy, hoping to convince him not to follow this path, and now he'd found him... only to find that something was definitely out of place. Trusting the boy, he hid himself in a nearby tree as his fellow teacher arrived, and he remembered that Mizuki was supposed to have been the one to have discovered the theft... but how? Mizuki wasn't supposed to have access to the Hokage's office if he wasn't sent for... Iruka paid close attention to the goings on below.

* * *

"There you are Naruto," Mizuki said as he stepped from the shadows of the trees. "How did you go? Learn any of them?"

"You got here too quick, Mizuki-sensei," the twelve-year old replied. "I haven't even opened this scroll since I got here. Do you think you can give me a few tips?"

The traitor smirked. Apparently, the brat had had a harder time getting the scroll in the first place, and on top of that, hadn't figured out any of the jutsu, or set off any traps on the scroll itself. A pity, but surely his benefactor could get past them. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but that was your last chance," he sneered. "After all, you have two options, hand over the scroll and come with me, or be executed for betraying the village... as you should have been twelve years ago!"

Above them, Iruka almost sprang out of the tree, but hesitated at the look on Naruto's face. It was the very picture of confusion... but it was _only a picture_, it didn't go any deeper than the surface! The chunin tensed, ready to act, but continued to wait.

"I don't understand," the boy said. "Why should I have been killed back then?" As Mizuki drew breath to answer, and as Iruka prepared to attack to stop him, Naruto looked Mizuki square in the eye and spoke before he could. "Don't you realise that would release the Kyuubi from its prison?"

Stunned, both chunin, the loyal and the renegade alike, froze, even as Naruto lifted the scroll from his back with one hand and slammed it, on end, into the ground beside him, striking a formidable looking pose for one so young, determination writ large in every inch of him. "I know about the fox sealed inside me, sensei," he stated, and Iruka knew these words were aimed, not at Mizuki, as the renegade may have assumed, but at _him_. "I am not the Kyuubi, but its prison, its lock and its key. I stand with the will of fire, and I refuse to quit. I will never give up, I will never stop trying and I _will be HOKAGE!_ I am Uzumaki Naruto, and no-one can stop me. Believe it!"

It had begun as a verbal cry for attention, he supposed. At the tender age of three, he'd started telling others to 'believe it', partly to get them to believe in him, and partly to get himself to believe, to make it so that's how it would be. Now, it was a firm and solid commitment, an oath to complete what he set his word to. It was fierce, it was proud, and it was unshakeable. Intimidated by a twelve-year-old boy, Mizuki lost his temper.

"And who's going to stop me, brat?" he roared, hauling one of his out-sized shuriken from his back and hurling it at the boy. "A dead child, a brat who shouldn't even exist? GIVE UP AND DIE!"

Iruka was too far away, and even by pushing his chakra through his legs for extra speed, couldn't stop the shuriken, or even intercept it. It didn't stop him trying, though, and so he got a point-blank, front-row-centre view of Naruto blocking the shuriken's path with the Forbidden Scroll of Seals... which then puffed out of existence like a shadow clone, leaving Naruto holding the shuriken upright like a shield, and glaring at Mizuki through the hole in the middle.

"Your first mistake," he told the slack-jawed renegade, "was forgetting that I've been trained, a little, by two of the Sannin. If there was another way to pass the genin exam, they'd have known. Your second mistake was in thinking I wouldn't ask Hokage-sama about it when he showed up in his office, despite your instructions. The whole test would have to have _him_ know about it, as you described it, or it couldn't be real." Naruto tossed the shuriken aside and brought his hands together into a special hand-sign, the fingers of one across the other. "Your third mistake was betraying the village at all, it makes me furious that you thought I would go along with it." Channelling his chakra he called out. "Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and the clearing and trees were filled with what seemed to be hundreds of Naruto clones. "And your last mistake was in thinking I didn't learn anything from the scroll, when all I said was I hadn't opened it since I got here."

As the many clones cracked their knuckles and advanced on him, a very pale, sweat-covered Mizuki began to scream, and the screams rang out across the forest for quite some time.

* * *

It was a much more subdued (as well as bruised and beaten) Mizuki who was only too happy to go peacefully with the ANBU who arrived to arrest him, and although he would survive Ibiki-sama's interrogation (even if his legs never quite healed properly... oops), he would be stricken with panic at the sight of anything orange for the rest of his life. As Hiruzen arrived to speak with Naruto and Iruka about the events of that night, the blue-eyed jinchuuriki rubbed at his neck as the gibbering traitor was taken away. "I think I went a little overboard," he remarked, as the ANBU commented on Mizuki's injuries.

"What did you beat him with,kid?" One of them, in a monkey-style mask queried. In response, Naruto held up his hands, and then pointed at his forehead. "Damn. Next time use something like a club, kid, he's got all sorts of broken bones all over."

The boy waved it off. "I made sure not to hit anywhere vital," he said, and turned to the Hokage, who had finished taking Iruka's report.

The old man looked at the boy, and saw his parents. They were there, in his face, his stance, his very attitude that screamed at the world: "Here I stand. Come get some." He reached into his sleeve, and smiled as he withdrew the hitai-ate therein.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he said, deliberately, with the ranking ANBU and Iruka as witnesses. "Konohagakure no Sato thanks you for your service in unmasking the traitor Touji Mizuki. As this mission required you to fail your genin exam, and with the evidence before us that you are capable of such jutsu as are required, I hereby raise you to the rank of Genin on my authority as Hokage. Congratulations, Naruto." He paused and then continued once Naruto had calmed down a bit. "This task will be credited to you as a low-end B-rank mission, but is to be held under strictest confidence from any except your jonin sensei and team-mates. You may say you were under special orders, but not what the mission was until released to do so. Do you understand?"

Naruto was suddenly all business, rather than his usual self. He would probably always have problems stemming from his time as Orochimaru's captive, and as now, they would crop up as cases of extreme seriousness, beyond what anyone his age should have to endure. "Hai, Hokage-sama. I understand."

* * *

The dawn was breaking through the windows of his office as the prospective jonin-sensei entered with the forms to assemble their requested teams. As he looked them over he placed his hands together in front of his face steepling his fingers as he gave the 'official' version of the previous night's events to the jonin assembled before him. In the silence that followed, the Hokage then went on.

"This means that there shall be ten teams from this year's crop of genin, and one of them will have Uzumaki Naruto. Any questions or comments?"

Hatake Kakashi cleared his throat. "Despite my history, I would like to avoid having him on my team unless absolutely necessary," he said. "I hold no grievance or grudge against the boy, he's as gutsy as they come, if a bit of a knucklehead. However, I am certain that the village council will insist that I train the Uchiha heir, and from what I've read, they get on like a house on fire."

Yuhi Kurenai paused as she ran that thought through her mind. "Wait," she said. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Kakashi stared at her with that one eye of his 'smiling'. "Have you ever been _in_ a house that's on fire, Kurenai-san? Flames, destruction, panic... I don't want to have to paint you a picture." He chuckled. "I don't have enough red..."

The discussions were easy enough, and quickly dealt with. In some cases they were easy enough to deal with, as the teams balanced out nicely but when it came down to it, Kurenai was... less than satisfied.

"Lord Hokage, not to question you, but why is my request for a tracking team being turned down?" She was looking at the names on her list with a pensive frown.

Hiruzen glanced again at his notes. "It isn't," he replied. It seemed a straightforward thing to him. Team balance and personal quirks, as well as certain traditions were taken into account, and he'd assigned the teams as impartially as possible.

"Then why is Inuzuka Kiba on Team Seven, instead of Team Eight? His sense of smell is a key factor, as is his canine partner," she said. "I also don't believe any good will come of having Hyuuga Hinata on the same team as Uzumaki, either. She has a crush on him, and can barely remain conscious in his presence."

The Hokage again looked over his notes. "Reports from the Academy place her as improving in that regard. The constant exposure to her friend seems to be improving her self-confidence by leaps and bounds. Are you saying that's a bad thing?"

Again, Kurenai gathered her wits and argued. "When Uzumaki failed the Academy test..." she began.

"At _my_ orders," the Hokage reminded her, lying through his teeth.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," she responded automatically, but struggled on with her argument. "That automatically made _him_ the 'Dead-last' of this year's group, so he should be paired with the Rookie of the Year, for balance. Inuzuka Kiba should be on my tracking team, as his tracking abilities are superior to Uzumaki's."

Hiruzen filled his pipe and lit it, savouring a couple of puffs of smoke as he pondered how to answer. He wondered _why_ Kurenai was so set against the boy being in her team, and recalled her protectiveness toward the Hyuuga girl. Was it as simple as that? From the observations and reports he'd received, the Inuzuka boy was interested in the Hyuuga heiress, who didn't reciprocate his feelings, so her virtue was safe there, but if her interest in Naruto was returned, and with the closeness of their friendship as it was, being on the same team may well be the push that started such a romance... He grinned as he got an idea, one that even Naruto, incorrigible prankster that he was, would have loved.

"Give him a test, then." He watched as Kurenai gaped at him. "Give Naruto a task that you know Kiba can manage, or make it a contest between the two of them, with no outside assistance, not even young Kiba's partner. If Naruto performs well enough _in your honest opinion_, no deceiving yourself, please, it's bad enough when others do it, he stays on your team. If he loses to Kiba, he can transfer to Team Seven with my blessing. What do you say, Kakashi?"

The Copycat Ninja, Sharingan Kakashi, put away his copy of Icha Icha Paradise. "Can I put twenty ryo on Naruto?"


	4. Seal 4: Pursue

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Paranoia: Just because they _are_ out to get you, doesn't mean you're not crazy.

**Fourth Seal: Pursue.**

Kurenai stared at Naruto's file. It was thicker than she expected, and the blond orphan had apparently had assessments performed by Lady Senju Tsunade and her apprentice, a clanless prodigy named Shizune, apparently the niece of the Sannin's lost fiancee. Master Jiraiya had also placed a few notations and recommendations in the file as well. The veteran kunoichi, as reluctant as she was, knew better than to set a task she knew was unfair, and was carefully flipping through the file before she and Kakashi went to meet their genin teams.

The first page detailed Naruto's academic grades, which were better than others might have thought. Apparently the boy had some kind of deal with Tsunade, based on his scores. If he'd been able to nail that last jutsu, she had to admit, he'd have more than qualified for the slot on her team. Next, she looked at his tracking scores. Visual tracking was pretty good, but was hardly a patch on Hinata's, and his hearing was also sharper than she'd thought. The real trick came down to his sense of smell, and she _knew_ no-one could beat an Inuzuka in that regard, it was impossible.

In truth it was, but Naruto's sense of smell at least matched Kiba's, according to the file, although it was to be noted that he didn't have as much experience as of yet. Apparently it was part of a newly emerged kekkei genkai...

Kurenai sat up straight as the information struck home. Turning the page she continued reading, even as her face paled. This was an S-rank secret, if word got out that Uzumaki Naruto had _two_ kekkei genkai, the village council would slap him into the CRA faster than you could think it, and that would definitely be a Clan Restoration Act Problem... The first kekkei genkai was the main Uzumaki bloodline, heightened vitality, longer lifespan, faster healing and sharper senses, with the potential for their special chakra to develop... unusual manifestations, such as the chakra chains of Uzumaki Kushina... Kurenai had to re-read that line five times before it sank in that her jonin sensei as a genin had to be Naruto's mother... but then who was the father? Was _he_ the source of the other bloodline? Shaking her head, the genjutsu mistress continued to read.

Abducted from the hospital three and a half years back by Orochimaru, discarded as a failure by same when experiment appeared to fail, awakening of second kekkei genkai from assimilated transplanted tissue, escaped and finally taught by Senju Tsunade... if someone was telling a lie, or selling a story, they would have come up with a better one than this.

Sealing the file again, she put it in her personal safe, which seemed to be her fruit bowl. She stood and hurried towards the academy. If she got there _after_ Kakashi, she'd never live it down.

* * *

Naruto's entrance to the classroom that morning was a surprise in more ways than one. None of his classmates had expected him, although Hinata had prayed he would at least stop by so she could finally return his jacket... not that she wanted to, but three years was long enough for her to dream, and at least now she felt confident enough to. The whole thing came to a head as Kiba spotted the boy, although everyone else did too, as he was the last to arrive before Iruka-sensei.

"Hey, Naruto," the Inuzuka boy taunted, "I thought only those who passed were supposed to be here."

In answer, Naruto pointed at his forehead. There was a gleaming hitai-ate there, on a dark orange band with white tips like a fox's tail, dangling down his back. He then spoke up. "Kiba, I had a special job to do for the Hokage, that needed me to _seem_ to fail." It was the official version of what had happened that was being circulated around the village. "I can't say more than that."

It was perhaps predictable that Sakura leapt to her feet from her spot next to Sasuke. Ino, on the other side of the boy, joined her. In the back row, Nara Shikamaru shook his head.

"_That much hotness on either side, and the boy's still emo?_" he mused as the girls opened their mouths in unison. "_Then again, considering how much... or little... they actually think..._" It was true Ino was a fraction better at most non-academic things than Sakura, but it was a small fraction.

The two 'rivals for Sasuke' began to screech, and Naruto slapped his hands across his ears, muffling the sound from downright painful to merely annoying. From the looks of it, they'd hit the right frequency to irritate Aburame Shino's kikaichu colony as well. "**NARUTO! HOW DARE YOU LIE LIKE THAT? IF THERE WAS SUCH A JOB, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO SASUKE!"**

Hinata was seeing red, and everyone else was staring at Ino and Sakura, who they'd never have believed could be that much in synch over anything. She was actually red, not with embarrassment this time but with fury, and was gripping the edge of her desk so she _wouldn't_ go over there and... many punishments flitted through her mind, but she couldn't settle on any one of them.

Sasuke was partially in shock. This was mostly from being at ground zero of his two biggest fan-girls' explosion, but partly it was from Naruto being given a task _he _had not.

The tense atmosphere was broken by Naruto... breaking into laughter. Hinata lost her grip on her temper as he clutched his side, and now Sasuke was beginning to go red with anger, before Naruto managed to stop. "Oh, yeah, _that_ was a good one," he chuckled. Looking up he called out. "You all saw and heard that right? Heh, I think the next three classes in each direction heard it. Doesn't anyone else find it hilarious that Sasuke's two biggest fans, his two most ardent supporters, _wanted him to fail_?"

There was a moment of time when everything seemed to halt as that realisation worked its way across the classroom. As it reached the aforementioned fan-girls, some of them smirked at Sakura and Ino for making that slip, others glared at Naruto for pointing out the problem with their thinking (if you could call it that), and finally Ino and Sakura went white as sheets... snow-white ones, freshly laundered... As they drew breath to scream again, the most unlikely event ever happened, stalling the vengeance of the pair.

Sasuke chuckled. "Heh."

It wasn't loud, but he definitely chuckled, and he still had the remnants of a grin on his face. "Heh, heh." It happened again, twice more, before descending into full-blown laughter, that had Sasuke clutching at ribs that had grown unused to such effort. Naruto grinned as well, as the fan-girl horde was shocked speechless. That, that Baka Naruto had made Sasuke laugh, for what had to be the first time in years... It was beyond belief.

Eventually, even as Iruka-sensei entered the room, having caught the laughter and raised voices, Naruto stepped up beside Hinata and sat down as the Uchiha heir wiped his eyes clear of the tears laughing that hard had brought on, still chuckling now and then. He wasn't Naruto's friend, not by a long shot, but pointing out the fallacy in Ino's and Sakura's argument had definitely earned him points.

* * *

Without further ado, Iruka began his announcements. "First, I'd like to welcome you all to class. You may have noticed that I'm your only sensei today, and for those of you wondering why, the events surrounding that explanation have been classified an A-rank secret by the Hokage. Moving right along we have ten genin squads here, and we'll start by placing those of you we can. Team One..." As Iruka called out their names, the genin moved into the appropriate groups. The first three squads were announced in proper order by Iruka. There was, by long standing custom, no Team Four, because nobody wanted to be part of any group marked by death. Team Five and Six were oddities... Five was an all boy squad, while Six was all girls. "Team Seven consists of Uchiha Sasuke and Sakura Haruno, with an open spot to be determined, led by Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight has a similar problem, with its set members being Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata, led by Yuhi Kurenai. Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto will be filling one or the other slot based on a jonin sensei determined test. Team Nine is still in circulation from last year, so next we have Team Ten, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino..." The line up bothered Ino, and all the fan-girls _except_ Sakura, but there was little they could do. As for Team Ten's line-up, it seemed their parents had managed to convince the Hokage that another generation of the odd yet effective trio their clans made was a good plan. Once all teams were assigned, Iruka dismissed the class, with an admonishment to be back by the end of lunch to meet their respective jonin.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I wonder what that's about?" He turned to the girl who was his closest, if a little shy and awkward, friend. He'd noticed she wasn't wearing his old jacket, and was curious about why, but felt this wasn't the place to discuss it. As the other fresh genin left, most of the girls glaring at Sakura and Naruto, although for very different reasons. The six members of Teams Seven and Eight, even though two of them were undetermined, were unsure of what to do. With their rosters up in the air like that, it was difficult to even think of bonding as a team.

It was all to the good, then, when a few minutes later, Yuhi Kurenai arrived with one of her friends, Kiba's older sister Hana, and her canine partners with her. "I'm Yuhi Kurenai. Teams Seven and Eight are to come outside with me," she announced, trying to at least be neutral in her attitude, although a touch of her true attitude seeped out regardless. "Hatake Kakashi will meet us in the yard by the gate." With that brusque introduction, she turned and walked out.

As they were walking outside, Naruto slipped up beside Hinata and whispered his question to her. "Hinata-hime," he murmured, hoping in vain that neither of the two with the sharpest senses, Shino or Kiba, would catch what he said, "You're not wearing the jacket I gave you. What's wrong, is it too small now? I mean it was three years ago, and it can't have been comfortable in some places."

A quick glance, stolen as he rubbed the bridge of his nose with his index finger, told Hinata that Naruto, _her_ Naru-kun, was... blushing? Then she remembered exactly where the jacket hugged her tightest, and she too turned red... They were outside by now, and she didn't have the time to explain, so she just held the small bag she'd brought the jacket in question in, and whispered her reply. "I... I'll t-tell you later, Naru-kun. Kurenai-sensei is about to speak."

Indeed, they had been joined by a tall jonin with gravity-defying hair and his hitai-ate pulled down over his left eye. Kurenai didn't comment an his (for once) punctual arrival, since she knew he'd left hours before her to get here. As the jonin in dispute, she had to take the reins here, so she stepped forward. "The reason we are standing here is due to a minor dispute over which genin gets placed on Team Eight, which is being set up as a tracking and reconnaissance team. As a result, the Hokage has told me to test the two potential genin before the final determination is made." She paused for breath, and looked over the assembled genin. "Hinata, Shino, the two of you are free to train or speak as you wait, but we will not be leaving until your team-mate, whoever he is gets back. Team Seven's Sasuke and Sakura, the same applies for you."

Turning to the last two genin, she smirked, Kiba's experience would stand him in good stead here, she knew, but then Naruto's physical stamina would also help him. "The test is as follows," she told them. "Somewhere in Konoha is Tora, the cat belonging to the wife of the Fire Daimyo." As she said this, Hana winced, and Kakashi shook his head in pity for the genin, even as he admitted that the genjutsu mistress couldn't have come up with a better test. "The two of you are to track him down, capture him, and return him here by sunset. The first one back gets the spot on Team Eight, and the other is placed with Team Seven. Before you start, a few rules... No outside assistance. This means Akamaru stays here with Hana, Kiba. To be fair, however, no shadow clones for you, Uzumaki." The difference in address wasn't something she noticed, but Hinata did... "The test applies only inside the walls of Konoha, and no interference with each other will be tolerated. I have two friends who'll be keeping an eye on you both, and they will inform me of any offences against each other. This is Tora's scent." She held up a scrap of silk that had obviously come from a cat's bed, allowing each boy to sniff it twice. "Begin!"

* * *

As he raced out into the village, leaping to the rooftops as he'd been taught, Naruto's mind raced. Kiba had been using his sense of smell for this for a long time, but he hadn't. If he wanted to get this, he had to think about what was going on... and according to everyone, it wasn't his strong point, he was in no way anywhere near Shikamaru, for example. Heck, he probably thought more like the cat than Shikamaru... a moment of revelation was all it took.

Dashing to the first place the cat would have left his scent, Naruto began trying to recall which hotel the Fire Daimyo's wife used when she was here...

Kiba knew he had this in the bag. He too understood the laws and customs surrounding clan symbols, and had started to worry that Hinata would never see _him_ as a possibility for a boyfriend... and then today she hadn't been wearing Uzumaki's jacket, which he just knew meant she was starting to see things his way...

As Kiba leaped and raced around, he wondered why the scent wasn't just jumping out at him as it usually did, and at the unusual lightness of his head. Oh, well, surely Akamaru would let him know if he missed anything... Akamaru! But he'd left Akamaru with Hana back at the Academy! Oh this was going to bite...

In the shadows, two figures had split up, one following Kiba, and the other watching over Naruto. In about thirty minutes it would be time for their first obstacle...

The blue-eyed jinchuuriki emerged from the hotel, sniffing gently at the air by the fence as he worked his way around it, soon arriving at the point the runaway cat had walked, and began to follow the old scent... he wasn't good enough to guess how old, and as he moved on, he kept a wary eye... and ear... out for... something. He wasn't sure what, but this seemed too easy. It was.

Kiba was finally able to pick up a scent of that cat, dratted nuisance, and it was less than an hour old, too. As he dashed forwards, his mind drifted towards how happy Hinata would be to have him on her team, and so he missed the slight whistling sound.

The flasks of concentrated peppermint had been supplied by Hana, and the people throwing them were Kurenai's friend Mitarashi Anko, who was following Naruto, and a old chunin squad-mate by the name of Sodaitora Shinshi, who Kiba never noticed until far too late. At the same time, in totally different districts of Konoha, Naruto and Kiba responded to the ambush in very different manners...

Naruto had a fraction of a second to react, whoever that was, they were _fast_, and reached out and snatched the flask from the air, stopping the open top with his thumb to prevent the contents from spilling on the street, and managed _not_ to break the fragile glass bottle in his grasp. That had been close. Channelling chakra to his senses, he moved on, unaware that his whisker mark were now glowing faintly with his chakra.

Kiba, totally caught by surprise as his thoughts drifted away from his surroundings, also managed, by some miracle, to catch the flask thrown at him... unfortunately, with his mouth, and the peppermint sloshed into his mouth and throat, pretty much killing his sense of smell. Gasping and choking, the Inuzuka marked his current place, and hurried over to a nearby hose to try and rid himself of the smell of peppermint, a smell so strong that it blocked his sense of smell completely...

As Naruto picked up the pace, moving more quickly once he again had the trail, sniffing every so often as he ran, he swept through an area with a vague whiff of peppermint to it. If someone was obliterating sections of Tora's trail, he reasoned without slowing, he had better move even faster...

When Kiba finally got the dratted taste and stench of peppermint out of his mouth and nose, he darted back to the place he'd marked, and cast about to get the scent once more. He caught Tora's scent after a few minutes, because another scent, much fresher and stronger, had overlaid it... that of Naruto. A few seconds of anger had Kiba growling, until he hit on a really shinobi plan... let Naruto do the work, then swoop in and grab the cat, then beat the baka back to the Academy. It was so simple, it couldn't fail, and then... Forcing his mind back to the _now_, he set off. Yes, Naruto's scent was easy to follow.

Shinshi sighed, and swiftly caught up to Anko. "Pretty Snake, the hound is hunting the fox instead of chasing the cat," he said in a deep low voice. "Orders?"

The special jonin thought for a second. "Leave it, it is a legitimate strategy... even if it's not a nice one." The chase continued.

The afternoon was dragging on as Naruto closed on Tora's position, some bushes in one of Konoha's many parks and gardens. As he did, he heard the faint rustle of leaves, and presumed it to be his watcher. Moving slowly forward, one foot at a time so as not to startle the runaway cat, he crouched and slid closer...

Kiba had nearly lost Naruto a couple of times that afternoon, a frustrating experience considering the other boy wore _orange_ for crying out loud! He'd soon picked him up again though, through a few moments sniffing around, but making up the lost ground had the Inuzuka tired and grumpy. He'd finally caught up, and he too could smell the cat in those bushes. Naruto, the baka, was cautiously approaching the cat from the windward side, letting the stupid creature (Inuzuka and cats do _not_ get along) catch his scent. Kiba, however, had worked his way around until he was upwind of the cat, with his own scent blown _away_ from the feline that had led them this merry chase. But if Naruto got there first... Kiba didn't stop to think, he didn't feel a need to, and he raced in to grab the cat...

Tora was getting bored. He'd run away again, but there was no-one chasing him to put through hell until he found these two. The first one, the one who was showing him he was there, that he was nothing to fear, he smelled odd... like a fox, but not like a fox. It was confusing, and Tora was wary of confusing things like this. And vets... always watch out for vets.

Then there was the other one, the dog-smelling one. He was hunting, but he didn't smell nice to cats. He made Tora's whiskers itch. He'd lost track of him now, and looked around as he heard Kiba's rush begin... Instinct took over, and the cat bolted away from Kiba, straight into Naruto's arms, where the young jinchuuriki immediately cradled him to be comfortable and placed another hand over the top to secure him as he jumped... straight over Kiba as he barrelled from the shrubbery with his arms outstretched, and from the tree limb he landed on Naruto was off to a nearby roof, still cradling the now-scared cat which had sunk its claws into the arm of his jacket as he raced back to the Academy...

* * *

Kiba was not happy, and began to chase Naruto across the rooftops, wondering how the blond could just keep running like that. He'd been going all-out all day and was barely breathing hard, by the kami! Whereas Kiba was most definitely slowing down, and realised he could either keep shouting threats at the other genin, or shut up and run, but either way he couldn't catch up. He'd lost, and all he could do was take it. He snarled, partly at Naruto, but mostly at himself. His former classmate had earned this, after all. And now that Kiba thought about it, Hinata probably would prefer Naruto on her team anyway. Well, maybe she'd thank him for making the baka work for it, and if she ever changed her mind, he'd still be her friend. There was always hope, right?

He didn't realise he'd spoken aloud until he heard the chuckle of the chunin behind him. "Indeed, there is always hope, Inuzuka-san," the man said as he stroked his goatee-style beard. Combined with the bald head and the chunin vest, he looked almost... villainous, but in a cool way. "Hope is all there is that cannot be taken from you. It can only be cast aside, and even then, there are those who will carry it for you until need it again. I am Sodaitora Shinshi, Inuzuka-san, also called Gentleman Tiger, and I bid you good day." The deep voice and almost formal manner of speech distracted him, and the man was gone from right in front of his eyes.

* * *

Hyuuga Neji had arrived while Naruto and Kiba were undertaking their test, and on hearing what was going on, had reported to Hiashi and the Hyuuga elders. They had taken it upon themselves to see what came of this, and sent an elder with two Branch House bodyguards as well as Hiashi and Neji, to see that Hinata's team-mate was... worthy. It didn't help that the elder they sent was a close friend of the deceased Inuzuka Kujo, Kiba's father, who had been killed during the Kyuubi's attack... although not by the Kyuubi, which the Inuzuka didn't bandy about much.

So as Naruto came up the road, at a slow jog, stroking Tora's fur gently as he ran to reassure the now-comfortable feline, he was greeted by the sight of six Hyuuga Clan members, as well as Kurenai-sensei, Kakashi-sensei and Shino, as well as Sasuke, who was leaning behind a tree, and Sakura, who was staring dreamily at Sasuke. "_For such a smart girl,_" he thought, "_she can sure do some stupid things at times._" He turned his gaze on Hinata, who'd clasped her hands together as she saw him, a smile brightening her face, and although the sun was setting, it was as though it had sprung back into the sky as far as he could see.

Kurenai watched as Naruto jogged in, petting the cat that existed to make genin life a living hell, and shuddered, a motion that was not missed by Hinata, who had never heard tales of the cat. Neji didn't speak about things with her very often. Or at all. As the red-eyed kunoichi nodded to Naruto Anko appeared behind him. "He ran fair, and passed the obstacles without help. He's pretty good. Shinshi says the other gaki needs work, but he'd probably be better off as a fighter with tracking as a secondary speciality." Grinning the woman in the trench-coat, mesh and miniskirt disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Turning to Naruto, she swallowed her pride, and extended her hand. "Well done, Uzumaki, and welcome to Team Eight."

"Before Naruto could say anything, Hinata's temper finally blew. Striding past her family, which surprised the Hyuuga no end as she wasn't hesitating in the slightest, nor did she seem to care that others were not only present, but watching. Hiashi felt the urge for some popcorn...

Placing herself before her new sensei, she exploded into an angry rant. "Kurenai-sensei," she hissed, enough venom in her words to give the jonin real pause, even as Kiba finally jogged up to the Academy gates. "I don't think you really mean that. I think you feel forced and badly-done-by to have him here, when the truth is you should be fighting to keep him. I don't know why you wanted Kiba on the team, but I do know why Naruto should be her. He has drive, determination like no-one else and you should be ashamed of yourself for treating him like the rest of the villagers, the narrow minds that can't stop blaming him for something that I'm sure he didn't choose. He helps others every chance he gets, did you know that? He stands up for anyone who needs it, and even when he has to fight someone, he tries to help them afterwards." Sasuke nodded at that, with a grunt, as he recalled their fights at the Academy. "He sees the bright side of everything, he works hard, and when people laugh _with_ him, his smile could light the room. He is Uzumaki Naruto, a part of this team now, and if you insist on calling him 'Uzumaki', then I insist you call me 'Hyuuga'. It's about as polite."

Everyone was staring at Hinata during this rant, and as it went on, Naruto had looked around for confirmation. With each point someone else nodded, although apparently only Hinata had seen the true smiles he apparently used. Sasuke had actually given a wry grin as she mentioned the part about making others laugh, at the same time as Sakura blushed.

As each person nodded, Naruto's smile got wider. It was a true smile, as Hinata would have put it, not a mask to hide pain, or to keep others away, but a beacon of good feelings to be shared. As he realised this, Hinata stopped talking, and looked around, realising exactly who she'd been speaking in front of. The shocked adults of the Hyuuga, the bitter and glowering face of Neji, the placid exterior of Shino, and the general look on everyone's face that seemed to say they'd have found a wolf being mauled to death by a fluffy little rabbit to be easier to believe.

She brought up the bag that had Naruto's old jacket in it, even as he murmured in a low tone, "Tell it, Hinata-hime..." and tried to hide her face behind it as she went bright red, and struggled not to faint.

Kurenai felt like the world was upside down. She'd just been verbally mauled, and deservedly so, by a genin she'd had charge of for less than six hours. She bowed at the waist towards the two genin and spoke clearly. "I'm very sorry, Naruto. I was too wedded to what I'd heard from others, and jumped to an unfounded conclusion."

When she straightened up, she walked over to Kakashi and handed him a stack of coins. "Here's your twenty ryo, Kakashi. If you buy another Icha Icha book with it, I'll have my new team hunt you down and burn your mask."

* * *

As the two teams separated, Shino leaned in towards Naruto. "Why do you think he wears that mask?" he asked his new team-mate in a level voice.

Naruto thought a moment before answering, still gazing at Hinata. "As much as he reads Ero-sennin's books, it's probably to hide his nosebleeds..." Straightening as Hinata spoke to her father nervously. "Sorry Shino, but can you excuse me, I just remember Hinata-chan said she needed to talk to me." With that, he made his way closer to the girl with the midnight hair.

* * *

"I told you, daughter," Hiashi was saying as Naruto approached, "it was all well and good to play at it for the last few years, but if the elders are to make you a good match..."

For a change, he was interrupted by his child. "I am sorry father, but time has gotten away from us. I was going to explain things but events came up to postpone the telling. If you can give me a few minutes..."

"A few minutes for what, Hinata-hime?" Naruto asked, startling an 'eep' from her as she startled.

This was embarrassing enough in front of her whole clan, without actually having them hear what she said. Taking his hand, she led him away from everyone, but took great care to remain in full view of them all. As she did, Naruto found himself caught up in how soft her hands were, before he realised she was speaking to him. "Um, sorry," he muttered. "What was that you said?"

"Do you remember the jacket you gave me, Naruto?"

He snorted. Of course he remembered it. "You've only worn it every day since, Hinata," he replied. "Until today, of course. Is there something wrong? It's definitely too small now. If you want I can get you another one?"

Hinata very nearly passed out from excitement, but managed not to by the barest margin. Taking a deep breath she continued. "Hai, Naruto-kun, it _is_ too small, but please let me finish, okay?" At his nod she went on. "You know the spirals on the shoulder and back of your jacket?" Again he nodded. "Those are clan symbols... _your_ clan symbols... and the only people allowed to wear them are the active duty chunin and higher shinobi, to honour a treaty as old as Konoha itself, and the members of that clan."

Naruto nodded again. He had a vague memory of Tsunade saying something along those lines, and his curiosity was piqued as Hinata began going red again. Studying it, he saw that it started at her jaw and spread upwards and down from there. A tiny part of him began to ask how _far_ down, but the rest of his mind bludgeoned it into submission.

"Well, if you give someone your clan's symbols like that, you're asking them to join your clan. If you g-give them t-to an unm-married girl or w-woman, i-it c-can b-be t-taken as a m-marriage p-proposal..."

Naruto noticed that that cute stutter she used to have when she was nervous was back, meaning she had to be _really_... nervous... He went pale, and looked over at Hiashi. "Y-you m-mean..."

"Hai."

"I p-p-p-"

"Hai." Hinata was pushing her index fingers together now.

"And y-your d-dad..."

"Hai."

Naruto's eyes rolled back in his head in a moment he would _never_ live down, and he fainted.


	5. Seal 5: Engage

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Love is where another's happiness is more important to us than our own... but that doesn't mean you shouldn't fight for it.

**Fifth Seal: Engage.**

Naruto woke up panicking, looking around anxiously. There above him was Hinata's concerned face, and although his pillow wasn't her lap, with the other Hyuuga nearby, perhaps that was just as well... blast it. Struggling to hammer the piece of his mind that kept thinking that way down (unfortunately, it was as irrepressible as the rest of him, and kept getting up again), the blond jinchuuriki gradually sat up.

The 'pillow' had been that bag Hinata had been carrying around today, and he realised where his old jacket was by the strong smell of her coming from it. Hiashi was the closest Hyuuga, and oddly, much at odds with the expression on his face, seemed... amused? That couldn't be right, could it? Pushing this mess from his mind, and shaking his head to clear it, Naruto cast his mind back over the conversation... surreal as it was... before he'd passed out.

"_Oh, please, kami,_" he prayed in earnest, "_don't let Sasuke hear about that._" His prayer was already too late, of course, as Ino had been passing the Academy gates on an errand at exactly the right time to pick up that choice piece of gossip.

He turned to Hinata, who was wearing a worried look on her face. "It's all right, Hinata-hime," he said, a sheepish smile on his face. "I... I think it was just the shock of all that news at once. Sorry for worrying you."

The pearl-eyed kunoichi smiled. "Are you _sure_ you're all right, Naru-kun?" she asked. It wouldn't do to find he'd been badly hurt later, that would be awful. When he nodded, she let out a sigh of relief. Now she could keep speaking with him, although her father was close enough to hear, it had to be done... and hadn't she just chewed out her own sensei in front of this group _and_ both teams? She could, and would, do this.

"Naru-kun," she began slowly, certain that he hadn't known about the symbols and consequences. "While I... I liked the idea that you really wanted me to be part of your clan, your family, I knew y-you didn't fully understand what you were offering. As a child, I could play at it, and your old jacket was a source of comfort and strength for me. But now, the clan is looking to strengthen itself, and as such I have t-to do my part... As much as I wish otherwise, I must return your jacket..." She was moments from tears, they were already gathering in her eyes, ready to pour down her cheeks...

Then she felt a gentle finger brush across her right eye, then her left, softly brushing away the impending torrent. Startled, she looked up, staring into the depths of the most sapphire-blue eyes she had ever seen, even as Naruto spoke softly, fully aware that Hyuuga Hiashi, Hinata's father and therefore not a man to cross if he could avoid it, was listening to every word.

"So the jacket's too small, then," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone, as if he were discussing the weather, or the crops. There was a light, a spark, deep within those eyes that she had only seen there before when he was discussing ramen from Ichiraku's. "I'll just have to get you one that fits, then." Her gasp of surprise was shocked from her as she brought her hands up to cover her mouth, as she blushed. Surely, he didn't mean...

"B-but, Naru-kun, now that you know..." she began, only for him to cut her off.

"Yeah, I know," he said, low but firm. "I didn't then, but I do now, and if I had known... maybe... I'd like to think I'd have done it anyway, but back then you were just the nice girl who never hurt me... a little place in the sun even in the darkest reaches of my mind..." The image of the sewer-like construction where the Kyuubi was imprisoned came to his mind's eye, replete with the odd, incongruous ray of sunshine. "So now I know, and I'm still offering, but if..." the very thought hurt him, but although he didn't know much about love (he _was_ only twelve after all), he knew that having something that hurt _him_ was preferable to something that hurt _her_.

The clearing of Hiashi's throat reminded them that they were not alone. "Boy," the Head of the Hyuuga nearly growled, his voice was that deep and low, rumbling with menace. "What makes you think I or my clan would in any way permit this... farce?" It was _phrased_ as a question, but it had all the hallmarks of a threat, and Naruto didn't respond well to threats.

Snapping his eyes to meet those of Hinata's father, he glared, refusing to back down... despite the heavy dose of fear trying to climb his spine. Naruto drew on his knowledge, from what he could remember, of what he'd learned involving his mother and her clan. It had been tiny titbits, gradually gathered over the years and pieced together bit by bit. If his past was a jigsaw puzzle, it was one of those big ones, and he had more than a few large patches of picture, as well as the edges. There were other sections, involving his father, but he couldn't figure out where they fit, exactly, so he left them out of the picture as he worked. And now he brought it to bear...

"My name," he stated. "Uzumaki, part of a treaty as old as the village." Hinata had told him that herself, before he'd passed out. "The kekkei genkai of that clan, which grants sharp, clear senses and unmatched vitality." That information had come courtesy of Tsunade and her tales of his mother, as well as comments that compared him to her. "A heart and will that will not quit, that will never surrender. A mind and soul that will always overcome, no matter how many times I fall I will rise again. I will be Hokage someday, believe it! And then there's this." He moved his arm so that his hand was between him and Hiashi, blocking the view of any other than the Head of the Hyuuga Clan and his team-mates and sensei. His claws slowly extended, and the eyes of those who could see it widened. "_Another_ kekkei genkai, I was informed. It emerged during my... absence from Konoha. I was abducted, and experimented on, by a madman with snake's eyes, and nearly died there. I still have nightmares."

Hiashi looked at the boy with his Byakugan active, assessing the odd alloy that seemed to make up his very bones. Hinata suddenly recalled the 'dietary supplements' Naruto had taken before every meal she'd ever seen him eat since his return, four dull grey pills that obviously didn't taste very good. Shino and Kurenai were speechless, although for the Aburame boy, it would have been hard to notice.

"So, Hiashi-sama," said Naruto, all serious now, a far cry from the troublemaker and prankster that he heard of, equally far from the only other _real_ concern that he had. "Is that enough to satisfy your Clan? Two kekkei genkai and the Uzumaki name? Or are they going to be greedy?"

Hiashi grimaced inwardly, but his nigh-legendary reserve kept the expression from his face. "For my Clan, it might be. I don't particularly care. If Hinata chooses to accept, she will be removed from her position as heiress. The matriarch of one clan, cannot be the head of another. Her place will be filled by Hanabi, and those symbols may be the only thing that can keep both my daughters unsealed until I can mend the clan."

Naruto was bothered somewhat by that statement. "Unsealed?" he asked. Without his noticing, his hand crept across his belly, a gesture that neither Hiashi nor Hinata missed, although they forbore to comment. "What do you mean unsealed?"

The Hyuuga Head glared at the boy, then waved Neji forward. "Show him the seal," he ordered. Neji glared at Naruto as he removed his hitai-ate, and the silk band beneath it. Hiashi continued. "The Byakugan is a potent tool and a great advantage for Konoha," he explained. "As such it was decided that the Hyuuga who were to become shinobi would receive a seal that would preserve it against our enemies. That is the origin of the Branch House. Somewhere along the way, the Branch House became the servants of the Main House, and the seal was... altered. This seal can be used to inflict pain, as well as sealing away the Byakugan at the moment of death." He waved for Neji to return, and as the boy stepped back, he again glared at Naruto. Hinata was returning his glare... not that he seemed to care. With Naruto knowing the connotations, he still offered her his jacket (a dream come true for her; she'd already pinched herself several times to see if she'd been placed in a genjutsu), and she was _not_ going to let her Naru-kun down.

Naruto, for his part, was locked in thought for a good few minutes. He could see a few problems with what he'd been told. "Hiashi-sama," he asked, "could you correct me if I'm wrong, but if the seal activates at the Hyuuga's _death_, and it's known to do so, what stops the enemy from removing their eyes while they're _alive_?" He shivered at the thought. "As for the seal, maybe it would take a Master of Fuinjutsu to remove, but... surely it wouldn't be so hard for an enemy to find the key to cause the pain... wouldn't that very crippling lead to more live captures, and thus a greater risk of the loss of the Byakugan?"

Hiashi was impressed. In a matter of seconds, this boy had seen a major flaw in their 'perfect' seal, one that was now revealed as nothing more than a means to subjugate the Branch House. That could give him an excuse... This boy might just enable him to heal his sundered clan, and _that_ was a priceless prize...

"Very well, Uzumaki-sama," he said the formal mode of address startling Naruto and Hinata. "She may wear your symbols, and I shall contact you at a later point to arrange the blessed event. Your enemies will be mine, and my family yours." The Hyuuga head then shocked the elder behind him, as well as Neji, by _bowing_ to Naruto, touching his forehead to the ground, before rising to leave. For a moment he paused, and softly spoke. "My daughter, Hinami would have been proud of you... as am I."

* * *

Shino had a lot to think about that night, as Kurenai had told them to be ready at eight the next morning at training ground eight. He spent the time as he walked home quietly pondering what was happening with Naruto. Hinata wearing her classmate's jacket had been a running joke for the past few years, and a few unkind children had been known to joke that she'd still be wearing it at her wedding. Civilian clans didn't adhere to the same customs as shinobi clans, such as the impact of offering your clan's symbols, so their lack of understanding was explicable, if crass.

He reached the Aburame compound, where his mother sat on the decking at the side of the house staring out at his father as he and his kikaichu colony trained together. Shino took note of the economy of motion, the precision he used, with little if any wasted effort, and idly wondered if he'd be that good someday... then he remembered Hinata's rant at Kurenai-sensei and smiled a little, the expression concealed by the high collar of his coat. He would.

"Oh?" came his mother's voice, and he realised she was even closer than he'd thought, having moved in while he was distracted by his own thoughts. "A smile on Shino-kun's face? Something big has happened then, something positive... I know, today you were assigned to your team, and the match-ups are something you consider near-perfect!" Happy with her deduction, Aburame Hotaru waited for her son's response. The Aburame, like many other clans, strove for perfection, but with what Shino had witnessed today, he had come to a different conclusion.

"Perfection seems... over-rated," he murmured, causing his mother's eyes to widen and his father to halt his training session. The raised eyebrow of Aburame Shibi invited his son to explain. "Perfection itself is an end to strive for, but never attain, making the goal worthless, and the striving itself the key. Upon attaining perfection, you stop growing and stagnate. Once you stagnate, others surpass you. Rather than strive for something that becomes worthless once I attain it, I would strive instead for the strength to protect my friends and team-mates, so that my goal _and_ my striving both have a worthy purpose."

Hotaru was certain it was the most that Shino had said in one go since he was six, and the thoughtful look on her husband's face told her he was pondering Shino's words deeply. After a moment he nodded. "You're right," he said, and the quiet family watched the fireflies his mother was named for come out to dance.

* * *

Naruto would not hear of Hinata going home after they'd been dismissed before he could get her a new jacket, one he insisted would be of the right size, and so he took her to the store where he got most of his clothes. Kujaku Dansei was a tailor with a small clientele, and he'd long ago been quietly instructed by the Hokage to make sure that Naruto always had the clothes he wanted. The old man still remembered the day the boy had seen his first picture of a tiger, and the amazement on the boy's face when he was told that few people saw the tiger that was hunting until too late. He had no tiger-skins, and the tiger-stripe pattern would have been out of place on the boy anyway, but he came up with the basic outfit that Naruto had worn for years. Dansei was a former shinobi, too old now to run as he used to, and had turned to his hobby to make a living. He was good at it, and when his granddaughter had chosen to apprentice to him for _those_ skills, rather than as a shinobi, he'd been proud.

Now that same granddaughter was helping him with the measurements of Hyuuga Hinata, and Naruto was asking the man's opinions. The symbols had to be there of course, on the shoulder and back, and Dansei knew what that meant, politically speaking at least. He made the garb for ninja-grade durability, yet cut it for comfort, and as young Zuuzuushi (Zuzu-chan to friends and family) called out the alterations, he marked them on the jacket.

His skill was such that mere minutes after the measuring was done, almost before Hinata had dressed and returned with Zuzu-chan, Dansei's little masterpiece was complete. It was _nearly_ identical to the old jacket, but with a feminine cut to accent the waist and shoulders, and a little in-built support for robust activity. The blue of the old jacket had clashed somewhat with the midnight hair, but by shifting a shade or three closer to purple, that section instead added to it in a way defying description. The orange was a little darker than his jacket, too, but not so much that Hinata's fair skin became pallid. Rather, it gave her a healthy-looking glow, although that may have been the girl's joy at being told she _could_ wear the symbols, even with Naruto knowing what it meant. The moment he'd said he'd understand if she didn't want him, her heart had almost shattered, until she realised he was giving the choice to _her_, in case _she_ didn't want _him_. As if that would happen...

* * *

Her new jacket drew much attention that night at dinner, and her father's lack of comment told the clan he at least approved, though there were soft mutters all night, spiteful, hate-filled things. As the meal drew to a close, Hiashi raised a hand for attention.

"Today, I approved the match between Clan Uzumaki and Clan Hyuuga, that has been in negotiation for the past few years." The noise as elders bolted upright and began to shout in protest, or to demand the girl be sealed before she was wedded, was as nothing to the cold, ice-filled tone that the Head of the Clan wielded as they bickered. "**Enough,**" he hissed, and silence fell. Glaring about the table, his eyes were everywhere but on his rapidly reddening daughter. Hanabi looked puzzled, and Neji had that cold look of disdain on his face. "Are we the strongest clan in Konoha, or a posturing school-yard mob?"

As the elders forced themselves to self-control, he went on. "Further, due to drawbacks in the Caged Bird Seal, I have elected to discontinue the practice." Hiashi took advantage of the apoplectic silence that ensued, even as that odious elder from earlier that day tried to squawk as he rapidly turned purple. "It was pointed out to me that the seal only triggers on death, so should any of our enemies take it in their heads to harvest the eyes while their... donor... is alive, it would not seal them. Further, the seal's key for inflicting pain is far easier for a fuinjutsu wielder to determine than the removal, so an enemy with sufficient skill, of which there are many, can pose a significant threat in battle with a single hand-seal and the right amount of chakra. I am certain no-one here wants that." He pointed to the Hyuuga seal-master, an old man called Kanshoku. "Begin at once," he ordered, before any could countermand him. "By the end of the week, I want no Hyuuga in Konoha vulnerable to an enemy with that key." As he sat, he smiled behind the mask of his own face. _That_ should keep their minds off the whole question of Hinata. He didn't miss that the Hyuuga who'd protested loudest were also the ones most fond of using the seal to enforce compliance, either.

Even a startled, almost shocked Neji, his usually stoic face a confused mess of emotions, couldn't avoid the thought. "All this, because of one little jacket?"

* * *

Naruto couldn't sleep. The events of the day and the previous night had him wired, almost literally bouncing with energy, and so he sat at the beat-up old desk in his apartment and wrote a letter to Tsunade, telling her of the events. He realised he might not be allowed to send it, or not all of it, so he took it to the Hokage Tower to see if he could get Jiji-sama to look it over. Maybe she could help him out, too. After all, she'd known his mother...

* * *

Hiruzen skimmed through the reports from the various jonin who had been chosen to sponsor the genin graduates this year. Again, as he'd suspected, from the ten squads he'd assembled, only three were ready for the duty and burden of shinobi status. That was appalling. From past years that he'd investigated, at Jiraiya's urging, he knew that prior to the Kyuubi's attack, the Academy had been producing twice as many able squads... so where did the competence go? Was the sabotage deliberate, or just coincidental? Removing the civilian side of the village council was not the answer, as the exact same make-up of the council during the Yondaime's reign was effective, so was it the _people_ involved that caused this.. disaster wasn't a strong enough word, but it would have to do... or were they, too, being manipulated by some dire puppet-master?

He picked up the reports for Teams Five and Six. They were capable enough, but their teamwork was... fragile. They would require another year to temper their teams at the Academy, but with Mizuki gone, who would teach them? Sighing he scanned Team Seven's report.

Pass. That was all Kakashi had written, but it was enough. He was using the bell test that Minato had used on him, that had been used on _him_ by Jiraiya, that had been used on _him_ by Hiruzen himself. In the comments were the words 'Post not needed'. That was a first. Every team had one member who wound up tied to the post, in the second stage. For it to be unnecessary implied that the test was complete before it got that far... The Hokage chalked it up to the Inuzuka boy's pack instincts. Once those kicked in, there would have been little hope of failing them, as his example would inspire the Uchiha, which left the Haruno girl stepping in, unlikely to abandon her crush. He could almost see it in his mind. Kakashi must have been impressed, this was the first team he'd ever passed.

Team Eight was a foregone conclusion. Kurenai's report was more detailed than Kakashi's, but finding her recon and tracking team had taken the initiative to map the unfamiliar training ground _before_ she arrived as a teamwork exercise? That was very good, very good indeed. Team Ten was passed, if barely. Hiruzen sighed at the terse notes, his son was a little lack-lustre, a little unfocused, for what he was doing. Perhaps a chunin assistant would light a fire under him... he reached into one of his drawers and took out a file. There was this chunin, who'd applied for advancement to jonin. Assigning the youngest of Konoha's Four Gentlemen to the task was a great test for the rank. That also gave him an idea about the Academy problems.

He scrawled out the message to assign Sodaitora Shinshi to assist Sarutobi Asuma, and two others to send to the other Gentlemen to see what they could do with the Academy. Sometimes the best thing to do with a problem was to throw it at another...

* * *

Naruto's shinobi identification photo had just been taken and he wandered down the Tower to his appointment with the Hokage regarding his clan finances. A little investigation told him that even from just his mother's clan, he had more than enough for his own compound, not unlike the Hyuuga, but he didn't want something that big unless there was no other choice. As he entered the room, he saw the Hokage was not alone, but he hadn't expected him to be. Hyuuga Hiashi was present as an interested party, having agreed to Hinata's engagement to the young Uzumaki, and Kurenai was present as his sensei, and thus de facto advisor. The other three, though, he couldn't understand. This was starting to smell serious.

Choosing a sturdy chair, Naruto bowed to the Hokage, his sensei and his prospective father-in-law, but didn't sit. "Hokage-sama," he said instead, "I can understand my sensei's presence, and that of Hyuuga-san, but I am unfamiliar with these others. Am I permitted to ask why they are present? A meeting now concluded, so that we may get on with my clan's business?"

Hiruzen openly smiled at the boy's formal and precise words. To think Naruto, the village troublemaker, christened by the ANBU who'd been on the receiving end of his pranks until the abduction as the village PITA (or Pain In The A... Acronym), had this inside of him.

Ignoring the glares that the 'advisors' from the council were levelling at the boy, the Hokage answered Naruto by introducing them. "These are Shimura Danzou, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu, advisors from the village council, Naruto-san," he said establishing protocols by the address during the introductions. Naruto turned and bowed to them, not as low as he had to Hiashi or Kurenai, whom he'd honoured nearly as much as the Hokage.

"It is an honour to meet them," the blue-eyed shinobi said, "I have heard so much of them already." He smiled, a false one that didn't fool anyone, nor was it meant to. "I do hope your meeting with Hokage-sama was fruitful."

Inwardly, Hiruzen wished he could break the reserve and laugh at Danzou being played like a top by this boy, barely a sixth of his age. "They are here for _your_ meeting, Naruto-san," he gently corrected, playing along. "The council seems to feel their advice will be needed."

"Why?" Naruto asked. "I can see Hyuuga-san's interest in the matter as my future father-in-law," he still swallowed hard at that, he just couldn't wrap his mind around the thought, "and Kurenai-sensei is here to give advice. While we got off to a... rocky start, I trust her to look out for me , and for Hinata-chan. But what exactly does private Uzumaki business have to do with the council?"

"There is a matter of a loan that must be repaid," Homura said after Danzou looked in that direction. "The village finances are very important."

Naruto may have been a knucklehead, but he was not a fool. That sentence had been carefully constructed to make it sound like Uzumaki owed the village... "I offer you a deal, Mitokado-san," he said. "The interest on the loan gets paid on time, and brought up to date, and I don't call in the debt."

The elders stared at the boy, wondering exactly how much he knew. As they did, Homura cleared his throat, nervously. "I agree," he said. There was nothing else to say, having backed himself into a corner. The glare he directed at Naruto did not seem to faze the boy, who then turned to the Hokage. "Was that all they needed to know, Hokage-sama?" As Hiruzen nodded, the boy again turned towards the village advisors. "I am so pleased to have been of assistance to the honoured elders, and thank you for dealing with this promptly. Now there are more personal matters to deal with, boring trivialities and clan contracts to finalise, so I beg, do not let us keep you from more important issues."

As the elder advisors left, reluctantly but they did leave, Naruto held a bow at the exact degree that gave them just enough respect that they couldn't call him on it, but not enough that they would think he actually respected them. Once the door was closed, he nearly collapsed in the chair. "Do we have to be formal for the rest of this?" he asked the Hokage. "My face feels like it's going to fall off from the fake smiles."

Chuckling, Hiruzen shook his head, and the small group began to discuss the future of the Uzumaki clan... and its past.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

There are a few OCs here. Most are secondary to the story, but there are some who fill slightly more important roles. I needed a few extra shinobi to light a fire under the Leaf Village's collective tail, so I created the Four Gentlemen. The oldest is Kujaku Dansei, the Gentleman Peacock, and the youngest is Sodaitora Shinshi, the Gentleman Tiger. The other two will be introduced in future chapters, so look out for the names Shikunshi and Jobu, which both mean 'gentleman', as do Shinshi and Dansei. But Naruto and his team are squarely (and rightly so) the centre of this story.


	6. Seal 6: Retaliate

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic THOUGHT: "It's not assassination, it's... sociological surgery."

**Sixth Seal: Retaliate.**

The meeting was almost over. Naruto had found that being the heir to the Uzumaki clan presented him with a couple of properties within Konoha, one of which was ironically the very apartment building he'd been living in all this time. Hiruzen had simply set things up so the rent paid by the few other tenants went directly into a stipend for him, keeping him in groceries and other essentials for quite some time now. Of course, finding he'd been overcharged in those places that did sell to him, with a few exceptions such as Kujaku Clothing and Yanagi Blacksmithing, leaving the boy to live off ramen, was unforgivable... especially since he needed a good diet to help his bones form properly now, even with the supplements Tsunade had supplied him. They could be prosecuted as sabotaging a ninja-candidate of the village... if Naruto revealed his kekkei genkai.

Of course, then the easily-manipulated council would slap him into the CRA. He didn't want _that_, he hadn't even kissed Hinata yet... Realising that the girl in question's father was _right there_, a few seconds after having said this, froze Naruto on the spot, a nervous grin on his face, as Hiashi raised one eyebrow.

Hiashi knew it was going to happen eventually, and was resigned. This _was _the way things were going, and he planned to step down as Clan Head as soon as Hanabi was ready for the position. He didn't feel right, even after abolishing the Caged Bird Seal, as he himself had used it before, and against his own brother. His announcement to that effect had not been well received, by the elders _or_ the Branch House, but he was adamant. The only person to lead the clan had to be one who had never used the seal. Returning his regard to Naruto, he let the boy squirm for a bit before speaking.

"Then you had best do so, hadn't you?" He pinned Naruto with his gaze. "You will tell her about your... prisoner, of course. There will be no deceiving her there, and I doubt she will mistake the container for the contained. The date we shall set once you both reach chunin rank, but I do not wish to be a grandfather for many years. Do you understand me?"

The red that had washed over Naruto added a counterpoint to his nervous confirmation.

"Then our business has concluded."

* * *

Hiashi's departure was cordial and informal, and Kurenai left shortly after, informing Naruto that tomorrow afternoon would be their first mission, a D-rank, which was all they could receive until they'd accomplished a certain number of them, but training would occur in the morning, this time at training ground 37.

Naruto himself was about to depart when the door slammed open and a short boy around eight years old in grey shorts and a blue leaf-emblem t-shirt, wearing a scarf and a skullcap, charged at the Hokage with a kunai. He didn't get there, luckily, tripping over his own scarf and tumbling over himself. If Naruto hadn't snatched away the boys kunai as he fell, he might have removed his own pancreas...

Springing to his feet, the boy looked around and pointed dramatically at Naruto. The whole attitude, combined with the sheer level of energy the boy seemed to have, reminded Naruto of someone... someone he knew well... Now if he could just remember who...

"It was you, wasn't it?" the boy demanded. "You tripped me and intercepted my assassination technique! You're good!" Naruto tilted his head to one side in amazement at the wrong conclusions this child was leaping to.

"As if," he retorted, letting his normal self emerge. Two hours discussing the history, finances and politics involved with the Uzumaki name was more than long enough to be serious, he felt. "You tripped over your own scarf, kid." From the lofty perch of four years older, Naruto was starting to enjoy this. "So why're you attacking Jiji-sama?"

The boy blinked at him. "Is he your Oji, too, then? But I don't have any cousins..."

Hiruzen sighed. "Naruto, this is my grandson, Sarutobi Konohamaru. Kono-kun, this is Uzumaki Naruto. I believe you two share a goal."

Naruto nodded, picking up the way the conversation was going. "So you want to be Hokage, too, then. Look, I know Hokage-sama here isn't my grandfather, but for a long time he was the only one who seemed to care about me. So I call him Jiji-sama. It says I think of him as family, but still shows respect, get it?"

Konohamaru nodded, he did indeed get it.

"But if you want to be Hokage, why are you attacking him?"

"Because the Hokage is the strongest, and if I can beat him, I have to be the strongest... right?" Konohamaru seemed uncertain.

"That is true," came a prissy voice from the door. A tall, thin man dressed in the standard jonin garb, with a bandanna covering his hair and a pair of dark glasses that he pushed back up his nose, stood there. "Honourable grandson, you really shouldn't run off like that. How are you going to get strong enough to become Hokage quickly if you don't follow my teachings?"

Before the younger boy could answer, Naruto planted himself in front of the strange jonin, glaring. "Isn't it rude to break into a private conversation without introducing yourself?" he asked.

The stranger glanced at Naruto, assessing him quickly as his eyes travelled swiftly up and down the genin, and just as swiftly dismissed him. In a haughty tone, he spoke, introducing himself as if bestowing a favour that Naruto was in no way worthy of. "I am called Ebisu, an elite jonin tutor for the honourable grandson of the honourable Sandaime Hokage."

Naruto tilted his head one way, and then the other, with a sniff of the air between. "When you put it that way..." he said, noticing the disdain this man was treating him with, obviously judging him by the 'demon' he was said to be. "You do realise that those words actually tell me absolutely nothing, don't you?" Naruto's next words cemented him a place as one of Konohamaru's favourite people ever. "There's no 'honourable' whoever here. There's Jiji-sama, and there's Kono-kun..." He paused as he looked over his shoulder at the younger boy. "I can call you that, right, ototo?" At Konohamaru's awestruck nod, he turned back to the jonin.

"This is how you introduce yourself, and I should know. I was taught my manners by Senju Tsunade, and when Tsunade-sama teaches you manners, they stick." He drew himself up and bowed, just a fraction, keeping his eyes on Ebisu. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, Head of that clan and genin ninja of Konohagakure no Sato." Relaxing a little, he stood upright and glared at the jonin again. "Now, what do you mean 'become Hokage quickly'? Kono-kun has to do it the hard way, just like all the others did. There's no 'quick' path to Hokage."

Konohamaru stared at the older boy. "What?! No quick path? But then what am I supposed to do? How do you become Hokage, then?"

Naruto turned to face his new friend. "Like I said, the hard way. Being Hokage is no easy thing, just ask Jiji-sama. It's mostly hard, dirty, thankless work. You have to know that going in, and it takes the strongest people to shoulder that." Naruto paused. " I don't really know why anyone else chose to become Hokage, but I know why I will. There are people who are precious to me, and others who are precious to them, and others precious to _them_. It goes on from that. If you become Hokage for any reason other than to protect them, all of them, the ones you know and the ones you don't, the ones you love and the ones you can't stand... well, then, you're chasing the wrong hat." He grinned at the obviously angry jonin. "And if anyone says different, they're selling manure as chocolate."

* * *

Having other things to do, Naruto strode from the Hokage's office after saying his good-byes to Konohamaru and Hiruzen. Upon leaving the Hokage Tower, he made his way to his second property, a modest house and garden compound bordering the Hyuuga estate. It was a decent house, in a similar style to the Hyuuga's, just smaller. It was dusty, not having seen any use in a long time, but a few dozen kage bunshin with brooms and mops and cleaning rags soon had the place looking brand new. There was easily enough room for a large family, with several rooms suitable as bedrooms, as well as an office, a good-sized kitchen, a laundry and a very comfortable bathroom, with a tub that was more than large enough for two...

Blushing as that thought ran through his mind, and once more striving to ignore that part of him that kept trying to bring up the subject, he made another pass through the house, measuring for furniture at a later point. Maybe he should ask Hinata for help there, since she'd be living here in a few years... maybe less if they made chunin early.

Shaking his head to clear out the thoughts _that _brought to mind, Naruto left the compound to return home. He was watching the stars, and his mind drifted a bit, considering the future as a pleasant thing, and he missed the signs of an ambush until it was almost too late. Perhaps it was the reddish glow over the other buildings and the smoke pouring into the sky, dulling his senses with shock as he realised that was _his_ home on fire. The scent of the first rushing assailant was heavily laden with sake, and he obviously thought a twelve-year-old 'demon' brat to be an easy target. Naruto heard him at the last second, and began to turn as the shovel haft was laid across what should have been the side of his head, but was actually the back of his skull, with crushing force.

Not even the new material of his bones altered the laws of physics, and the power behind the blow cartwheeled Naruto to one side, although not as far as otherwise would have been the case, blood flying from the wound in his scalp, even as the shovel broke, the loud crack resounding through the night. There was a pause as the attackers stared through their drunken haze at the broken shovel, then raised their improvised arsenal and closed in. It surprised them to find Naruto already on his feet, the wound across his head from the broken shovel closing and sealing already, healing before their very eyes, which gave them pause...

The blue-eyed genin poured his chakra into the jutsu he'd worked hard to learn that night when he'd taken down Mizuki, screaming out "Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" as he did. He used more than enough, and didn't notice, or brushed off as imagined, the fact that his whisker marks glowed blue with his chakra as he did, a small army of shadow clones appearing to trap the mob.

* * *

By the time the ANBU squad arrived, it was all over. A dozen grown men were trussed up like chickens, awaiting their fate, and Naruto sat against the nearby fence, staring at the smouldering remains of his home. It hadn't been much, but it had been _his_, and someone had egged on this band of drunks to take it away. He wondered why it didn't hurt more, why it wasn't sinking in that it was all gone. Maybe he needed somewhere he felt safe for that, but he couldn't imagine where.

Then her scent hit him. Hinata. She was here, and he began looking around to find her. She was there, standing in her sleeping kimono, having taken the time to throw her new jacket on over the top, with a handful of other Hyuuga including her father, and she saw him at the same time, rushing to him and clutching him close.

He could feel it now. Here, he was safe; here, he could let it all go. Here, in her arms, he could weep for what he had lost in his life, not just his home, but his childhood, and he would be safe here though a war raged close around them...

As she held the sobbing form of her intended close, noting he was a fair bit heavier than he looked, Hinata stared at what had been his apartment. She felt Naruto's sobs slow, and descend into a fitful slumber, one that smoothed out as he snuggled closer to her. There in that apartment, he'd lost most of what he owned. She knew he kept Gama-chan, his green frog wallet, on his person at all times, but everything else (including the gifts she'd secretly left for him over the years) had been in that building. As a hand closed on her shoulder, she looked up into the stern and foreboding features of her father's face.

"For tonight," he said, sympathy in his low-pitched voice, but not his face, "he comes home with us."

* * *

He was warm. That was the first thing he noticed. He was warm and safe, and he realised he was not alone. Opening his eyes revealed to him a humble bedroom in pale colours, with a few exceptions. The first was the old orange jacket that was pressed behind glass and framed, like some oversized flower. The second was a pile of neatly folded clothes on the desk, freshly laundered, that looked like his. Finally there was the last, a stuffed toy that looked hand-made, a chibi fox plushy, but one that had been modified with spiky blond 'hair' on its head. It looked a little out of place, and Naruto at first didn't realise why.

When he went to rise, and he discovered the arms around him, he realised pretty quickly that the space normally occupied by the soft toy was currently occupied by him, and the warm, tight embrace that didn't want to let go of him was Hinata. He was _so_ dead when Hiashi-sama found out what was happening... He spotted movement in the doorway, and feigned sleep. Through the cracks of his eyelids, he saw a Hyuuga girl, no more than eight years of age, peering through the open door with a shy and puzzled look on her face before turning to someone else, in the corridor beyond his line of sight, and asking the burning question.

"Nii-san, who is Nee-chan's new plushy?" Naruto immediately realised that this must be Hinata's sister, and wished he'd made a better introduction than as her cuddle toy. An instant later, he spotted her form of address and a few thoughts ran through his head.

"_I didn't think Hinata had a brother,_" he thought, his mind both racing, and yet striving to prolong this happy place... he hadn't had the nightmares, neither the old one or the new one he could never remember. Then he remembered the Hyuuga boy who'd made genin the previous year, her cousin, he thought, who had often spoken up when it was time to go home, who the shy girl (a squeeze from the arms now holding her against his back reminded him that she wasn't so shy any more) had referred to as 'Nii-san'. "_Wasn't Neji always angry at everything and going on about fate?_"

As the boy stepped up to the doorway, he spotted Naruto. A grim smile reached his face. "No-one to worry about, Hanabi-sama," he said grimly as he stepped into the room, "since he's going to be dead soon..."

The blond jinchuuriki stiffened in fright, and was about to leap up and run away, when the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard came from behind him. Hinata's somewhat sleepy voice. "Neji-nii-san, stop it," she said. "Tou-san knows where Naru-kun is." The arms reluctantly let go of him, and the sheets moved as Hinata sat up. "His home was burned down last night, and we had to bring him here. He was asleep, and wouldn't let go of me, so Tou-san left him here, but there was supposed to be someone to chaperone us."

Another Hyuuga, one of the ones from the previous night going by Naruto's sense of smell, arrived in the corridor. "I'm sorry, Hinata-sama," she said, bowing. "I had to answer a call of nature."

As Hinata wasn't holding him any more, Naruto figured this to be as good a time as any to 'wake up', and began to go through the motions of it... but that didn't last long against the Hyuuga eye for details.

Hanabi giggled at his attempt to mislead them. This Naru-kun had to be the Naruto her nee-chan had always spoken of, and that meant he was this Uzumaki father had accepted for her at dinner the other night, unless there was some other Uzumaki in the village somewhere, which she doubted. "Don't bother pretending," she said, with a Hyuuga-style grin, the corners of her mouth barely quirking upwards. "I've known you were awake since I saw you. I'm sorry to hear about your home... if there's anything I can do to help..."

Hanabi's sincere gesture was a big step up from how others had always treated him, and Naruto wasn't entirely sure how to deal with it. A moment's thought, and a rumble from his belly, distracted him.

"Breakfast is in five minutes," Neji said, confused as to why this boy was held in such high regard by his uncle. He was trying to find something stable in his constantly changing world, and somehow the immutable rock of fate had turned out to be a pile of sand. From what little he could find out, this boy was the centre of the spiralling maelstrom that life had become, and he couldn't wrap his mind around that. How could this boy, a year younger than he, cause such chaos?

Naruto nodded, and sat up, abandoning all pretence that he hadn't been awake. With Hinata's words, he'd remembered last night's events, and the safety he felt in Hinata's arms. Now, he had to do something that may just cause her to turn away from him... he had to tell her about the Kyuubi. "If you would, can you go ahead, please," he said, a serious note in his voice. Hinata was about to climb from the bed when his hand caught hers and tightened on it. "There's something I have to tell... Hinata-hime." For the first time, he used the name he had only ever used to speak to her with others, a deliberate choice to show how much he thought of her, his princess. As the others nodded and left the room, although the appointed chaperone didn't go far, stopping just beyond earshot, he turned to Hinata.

"Hinata-hime," he whispered, not wanting to speak loudly, and he had her full attention. "What do you remember from classes... about the Kyuubi no Yoko?"

She was a little surprised. She'd been expecting him to apologise for crying on her shoulder, or for putting a burden on her, not a history revision. "It attacked the village twelve years ago... no, thirteen, now... and was defeated by the Yondaime Hokage."

The wry grin on his face said she was right. "Yeah, and a lot of people forget that 'defeated' doesn't always mean 'killed'. Of course, the Kyuubi can't be killed that easily, no matter how strong the shinobi is. But the Yondaime _did_, at the cost of his own life, manage to seal away the Kyuubi, so it couldn't threaten anyone."

She saw this was hard for him to say, and waited patiently for him to continue. "The problem gets bigger. He couldn't seal the Kyuubi into any old object, it had to be significant, and someone had destroyed all the sealing jars that could have been used," he said, just as Jiraiya had told it to him. "Anything else would have been consumed trying to contain the fox's demon chakra. So he had to use a living creature, so that the chakra could be channelled through a chakra network, and that meant a human being, as nothing else would have one complex enough. And it had to be done as the basic chakra network was forming, so that the network could adapt to its presence and not cause chakra poisoning from the incompatibilities." He was _really_ glad Tsunade and Shizune had taught him medical terminology. "So he sealed it in a baby, born that very night."

Hinata was stunned. She was a very intelligent girl, very nearly a match for Sakura in the academic scores, and she could see the inevitable conclusion. The Yondaime Hokage was such a man that would not ask of another what he could not give himself, she'd learned as she grew up. Her Tou-san had always said so, and she'd heard similar thoughts expressed by others. So when her Naru-kun mentioned the baby, she knew that the baby was himself, and more than that, he could only be the son of the Yondaime. At no point since the attempt to abduct her when she was a child had she been so terrified...

Naruto saw the effect, and smelled the fear, and began to reluctantly turn away. So it came to him as a great shock when she grabbed him, pulling him close against her in a deep hug and he turned his face towards hers...

At the same moment Hinata had hugged him, pressing herself against him to reassure him, she murmured into his ear, before it turned. "Oh, my poor Naru-kun, that's terrible..."

But he hadn't heard her, or he had and it simply hadn't registered, as his head turned, and she turned hers to look him in the eyes...

With both faces so close, the awkward angle meant they had to tilt their heads a fraction, and their inexperience at being this close to another gave them no distance to judge by, and their lips gently brushed together...

The burgeoning couple froze, lips against each other, for a good minute before they leaned back, parting reluctantly, both reddening in a by-now familiar manner.

"um... yeah..." Naruto babbled, his voice faint, even as that one part of his mind beat the rest into a confused daze, and screamed out how _good_ that had felt. "Oh, yes, breakfast!"

He stood quickly, accidentally dragging Hinata with him as he did, and went to step over to his clothes. Since she hadn't let go of him, this led to the two of them sprawling on the floor in a startled heap, much to the amusement of their chaperone. For a moment they lay there, Hinata savouring the sound of Naruto's heartbeat even as he discovered how much he adored the smell of her hair, before he broke the silence. "Thank you, Hinata-hime," he whispered.

Raising her head, she stared into her fiancee's eyes... she just loved being able to use that word for Naruto. "Why, Naru-kun? I haven't done that much."

Shaking his head as they struggled to their feet, and gathering his clothes to get changed for breakfast, he smiled. "That's not true. You accepted me, even knowing about my furry passenger. You were and remain my best friend, and when you held me last night," here he blushed as much as she ever had, "I didn't have nightmares, because I _knew_ I was safe. When I was abducted back then, I was experimented on, and I was dying and met the Kyuubi deep inside my mind. The place was terrible, a real sewer, and there was only a single ray of sunlight there... a ray of sunlight from a girl I saved from bullies, who apologised for her minder, and thanked me."

Turning he returned her embrace with a hug of his own, the first real one he'd ever given. "Now, I better get changed for breakfast."

* * *

Yamanaka Inoichi stepped out of the prisoner's mind, and gave Ibiki the identity he needed. As the scarred man started cursing, he gathered the news wasn't good.

"That man died last night after these men were caught," he said. "Choked to death on a fish-bone, apparently. Someone is entirely too good at setting up a chain of events and cutting the links we really need." Growling, he began the report for the Hokage. With manipulation and conspiracy on such a scale, the whole thing was being arranged at a much higher level than he was currently equipped to deal with.

* * *

Team Eight's first D-ranked mission was the acquisition of furniture for Naruto's new house. Apparently, the Hokage provided both the mission and a budget... one supplied by the originally reluctant insurance company, who'd quickly changed their minds when the Hokage pointed out that not paying up could be considered theft from an active duty shinobi, and would hardly inspire others to use their services, maybe even costing them customers.

Kurenai assigned them all roles based on their capabilities. Hinata got to match the furniture's styles, and was good at it, while Shino and his kikaichu ensured that the pieces were not sub-par rip-offs. Naruto, with his abundance of shadow clones, got the task of moving the purchases around the house until Hinata told him it looked right.

In less time than he'd originally thought, he was moved in. It had been a whirlwind of a day, and once all the training in the morning and events of the previous night and that afternoon caught up to him, Naruto was glad the day was done. He even decided to treat his team and sensei to Ichiraku's to celebrate.


	7. Seal 7:Emerge

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. I have a dizzying intellect... it goes around and around in circles until everyone falls over.

**Seventh Seal: Emerge.**

Hinata relaxed from her stance as Naruto struggled up from the ground. Their sparring session today had been intense, and he was at a heavy disadvantage. Kurenai had taken a leaf from a more experienced jonin's book, and over the past few weeks had been training them with weights on. The effects of the training didn't seem to be much, but then today she'd had them take the weights off to spar. Even Shino had been much improved, although it wasn't possible to train his kikaichu this way. Today also marked their twentieth D-rank mission. The chores were usually tedious, but with a modicum of teamwork and effort, not really that challenging. Occasionally, Naruto would feel melancholy over the loss of the apartment he'd called his home. Despite the fact that he did have a new one, it didn't feel like home yet. In these moods, Hinata would simply give him a hug, and the knucklehead ninja would smile and throw himself back into training.

For the past week, he'd begun a new tradition. At the end of each training session, he and his girlfriend (most people wouldn't understand them being affianced at their age) would share a simple, chaste kiss before parting ways. Dinner for the two was as often together as apart, and occurred at his new home as much as at hers.

Surprisingly to many shinobi, Team Eight actually looked forward to those missions involving Tora, the cat that most genin lived in dread of. Naruto would easily find the feline, Hinata and he would play with Tora for a little, and Shino with his kikaichu would dispose of the poor cat's fleas. Then they would return him to his owner... where he would inevitably escape once more.

* * *

Kakashi glared at the two missing-nin called the Demon Brothers. This was meant to be a basic C-rank mission for Team Seven to cut their teeth on, and it was one they'd received after Kiba and Sasuke had gone off on how boring and useless the D-rank missions were. Still, his team had meshed well, with Kiba recognising Sasuke as an Alpha, and slotting himself into position as a good Beta, and the two worked very well together. Sakura had seen the two pushing each other to greater heights, and strove to better herself so she didn't hold them back. All three had recognised the incongruity of the puddle, and were ready. Sakura did freeze for a moment when Kakashi seemed to be torn apart by the razor-chain between the brothers' gauntlets, but had recovered in time to attempt an intercept (fortunately unnecessary, but still...) when the two brothers attacked the bridge-builder. Sasuke had nailed the two missing-nin to a tree by that very chain, as the young kunoichi shielded their client, and while the Demon Brothers were breaking their gauntlets loose of the chain, they were hit by Kiba and Akamaru with their Fang over Fang technique, at which point their sensei had re-appeared and caught their foes in ninja-wire.

The interrogation had gone smoothly, especially when the infamous Copycat Kakashi thanked his new 'victims' for their timing, as he'd been looking for some bodies to teach his genin T&I techniques...

Now Kakashi had a dilemma. The fact that this Gatou had hired Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Bloody Mist, automatically bumped what should have been a low C up to a high B, maybe even an A. That was bad. Sasuke wanted to go on, Sakura realised that they weren't equipped or ready for this as they were, and Kiba... Kiba actually had the best idea.

"It's not our call, Kakashi-sensei," the Inuzuka had said. "It all goes by your decision, that's why you're the sensei. Like Sasuke, I want to show what I can do, but if you say we go home, there we go." A few moments of thought produced an insight Kakashi would not have expected from the genin. "What would Shino say?" he muttered, before turning to Tazuna.

"Hey, you said you couldn't afford a B-rank team, what about another C-rank? It's cheaper than a B-rank that way, and there are two jonin along, too, with a total of six genin." Once more he turned to Kakashi-sensei. "If we can contact the village, we can drop all this in the Hokage's lap."

The one-eyed jonin made up his mind, and summoned his fastest Nin-ken hound. "Take this message to the Hokage. Things got a little... complicated."

* * *

Yuhi Kurenai stood before the Hokage's desk. Hiruzen had acted quickly once he'd read Team Seven's report and pondered what to do. Although Kiba seemed to have opted to fill a Beta role in the group, his 'pack' as it were, he had displayed good Alpha instincts about how to proceed, and the old ninja made a note in the boy's file to that end.

"So do you understand your team's mission?" he asked, smoke trailing upwards from his pipe. Kurenai nodded.

"Team Eight is to rendezvous with Team Seven and provide additional support and options for dealing with a number of missing-nin and local bandits and thugs. Primary role is scouting, recon and pursuit, secondary is combat support," she replied. Put that way, it sounded easy, but with the Demon of the Bloody Mist involved, it was likely anything but.

"Very well," the Hokage said, praying that he was choosing the right path here. "Your team is to prepare immediately, and leave at noon."

* * *

"_This is insane!_" Kiba thought as he stared at the rabbit below the shuriken. "I swear, sensei, I smelled someone there," he said aloud, and Kakashi nodded, stretching his senses to take in as much information as possible from around them. Since Team Eight wasn't accompanying a civilian like Tazuna, they would be able to travel further and faster each day, and staying in one spot would have been an invitation to attack. So Team Seven had continued, and their counterparts should be showing up soon.

The sudden rush of breaking bushes alerted Kakashi, and he yelled for his Team to get down. Sakura tackled Tazuna to the ground, as Kiba obeyed without hesitation and Kakashi leaped away from the path of the spinning sword, a massive length of single edged steel two hand-spans across, as it whirred through the shrubbery like a hurricane, destroying all that it came in contact with. Sasuke jumped high as it powered past him, slamming into a tree trunk and stopping, driven halfway through it in an impressive display of brute force.

As they picked themselves up, a man landed on the hilt of the sword, balancing there as easily as though he were on the ground. "Ah," said Kakashi. "Momochi Zabuza... what kept you?"

Zabuza was tall and muscular, a fact easily discerned since he wore no shirt. His pants were an odd blue camouflage pattern and like Sharingan Kakashi, he hid the lower half of his face, although behind bandages rather than a mask. The Konoha jonin's nonchalant response was not what he was expecting and he turned and pointed. "The infamous Copycat Kakashi. I have no quarrel with you... but that man has to die!"

* * *

As the fight began, Naruto held up his hand. Thanks to Hinata, they'd spotted the other team just before Zabuza appeared, and the attack was under way before they could act. Still, Kurenai had held them back. Their first focus was recon, and so she set their senses to work.

Hinata had spotted that the 'Zabuza' in the tree had no chakra network, just a solid mass of it. That said he was some kind of clone, water if the Mist nin's speciality was true. Since that concurred with what Naruto smelled, they waited. Once the _real _Zabuza acted, they would join the fight. But there was more. The missing-nin from the Seven Swordsmen was not alone, he was working with a partner, one with unknown abilities. They had to hatch a strategy to deal with that, and it hinged on surprise. As they were, the members of Team Seven didn't seem to need help... yet.

* * *

Kakashi was getting frustrated. Even with his sharingan, he was barely keeping pace with the missing-nin. Twice he'd been close enough, only for his blow to glance off the scratched Kirigakure hitai-ate that Zabuza wore. All it took was one misstep...

As the Water Prison sprang up around him, Kakashi realised he'd made that misstep. He was trapped, and it was up to his genin now. Praying they'd live through this, he almost missed the ripple as reality was replaced... As Zabuza's water clones toyed with and slaughtered the three genin, scattering their bodies piecemeal across the clearing, he laughed, taunting Kakashi, who had his face in his hands as his shoulders shook.

"Huh," the former Mist shinobi grunted with disgust, sweeping his blade through the neck of Tazuna and letting the corpse fall to the ground. "Is that all it takes to break you, Hatake Kakashi?" Another shinobi, this one wearing a Mist Hunter-nin mask, stepped into the clearing.

"Zabuza-sama," he said. He carried himself with an unconscious grace, and an air of suspicion. "That was an easy assignment. I would have thought someone as powerful as Hatake Kakashi would be more of a challenge."

The Swordsman's eyes widened as he saw that Kakashi was not shaking in sorrow-filled sobs, but an attempt to stifle his laughter. "Dammit!" he swore. "Genjutsu! Kai!" He formed the hand seal, even as his companion did, and all signs of the bloody battle faded away, revealing the members of Team Seven to be unhurt, and Kakashi to be standing in front of them beside a woman with messy hair and red eyes, dressed in a red dress and white wrappings.

His companion fell as he was hit from behind by a number of strikes that hammered at his chakra network, dropping the younger missing-nin to the ground, his chakra sealed away, with a midnight-haired girl standing over him, her pale eyes wide and surrounded by raised chakra coils.

"Haku," he muttered, and began to form the hand seals for his water clones, only to notice a number of strange bugs crawling on him, reducing his chakra by draining it from him. He still had some, but not enough for clones... He raised his sword, and charged the bridge builder, sweeping the sword in a wide arc that he knew would not stop, just as a small orange blur dropped from the tree above, straight in the sword's path, and brought up his hands, crossing the three claws protruding from each in front of him as he braced for the inevitable impact.

Since Zabuza had sundered many larger and sturdier looking weapons with Kubikiri Bouchou, he put a little more force into the blow to overcome the slight resistance of a human body.

Naruto's feet dug into the ground as the huge sword hit his bonemetal claws, and forced them back, almost as far as his chest. Drawing his chakra into his bones and muscles, the blue-eyed jinchuuriki fought back, sliding to a halt even as Zabuza put both hands on his hilt and pushed... Naruto saw the look of fear on Hinata's face as she watched, and something clicked. Back when he'd told her about his passenger, she hadn't been scared _of_ him, but _for_ him. If he died, he'd leave her alone in this world... and that would hurt her... and _nothing_ was allowed to hurt _his_ Hinata-hime! With a growl that started deep in his throat, no, deeper, in his gut, Naruto reached deeper down and pulled harder at his chakra, blue fire pouring from his whisker marks...

"**Huh?! Whazzat?!, What's going on, why'd you wake me?**" From deep inside Naruto's mind, his reluctant tenant was awake once more, after a nap of over three years. Glancing at his host's recent memories and thoughts, he was impressed at what he saw... and a little scared. He would have thought the kid would have needed to tap into his power a lot more than he had over the years, and the only reason he was doing it now was to protect that tiny girl... his mate by the way humans reckoned such things. Well, the Kyuubi no Yoko certainly understood loyalty... "**HELL, YEAH, BRAT! Show them what you can really do with this stuff!**"

Hinata was the only one to see it begin, the only one who could see it as crimson chakra swept through Naruto's system, pouring into his bones before reaching his face, and letting the boy sweep his claws forward and out, in opposite directions, slicing through the blade of the sword like a fish through water... sending the pieces flying.

Zabuza stared in shock at the pieces of his sword as they scattered apart, two even sections from the middle, small ones, and the bulk of the blade from beyond the claws, which dug into the dirt. As he stood there, for an instant only, paralysed by shock at the genin who'd shredded his sword (he knew he could repair it by killing people, with the blade restoring itself from the iron in their blood... but that was a _lot_ of people), Kakashi and Kurenai both struck, and although he managed to stop both of Kakashi's strikes, Kurenai's blow to the base of his skull sent him off to oblivion... for now.

Naruto straightened up, his chakra reserves incredibly low. He saw Hinata, her eyes shining with tears of pride and joy, and all was right with the world. Shino nodded to him as he glanced over that way, and he nodded in return. Sasuke was staring at the jinchuuriki, openly envious of his former classmate's abilities, and Sakura looked a little scared. Kiba looked like he wanted to roll over on his back, throat exposed, just to be on the safe side, and deep inside Naruto, the Kyuubi chuckled at the thought. Kakashi and Kurenai watched him closely, assessing him as a threat...

"Hey, Kurenai-sensei, 'sall okay, I'm just a li'l bit tired now..." Naruto mumbled as the chakra exhaustion caught up with him. "Think I overdid it..." The blond jinchuuriki began to collapse, and Hinata dashed in to catch him, toppling with him to the ground.

* * *

Deciding what to do with their prisoners was a major chore. Kakashi and Kurenai had to confine them and keep watch over them, but Tazuna still needed to work on the bridge. A simple roster was arranged where the genin would operate in pairs, one genin from each team, to defend the old man, while the others rested or trained, getting tips from the jonin not watching the two missing-nin. A messenger-hawk had been sent off to Konohagakure, with a full report for the Hokage.

Shino and Kiba had guard duty, and the two girls were sleeping as Sasuke and Naruto sparred, fighting back and forth across the yard. They had mastered the basic idea behind tree-walking very quickly, although Naruto needed a little more chakra as he was a bit heavier. Then it was lunch time, and the girls were woken for the meal. It would be their turn to guard Tazuna soon. As Naruto swallowed the first of his supplement pills, Sasuke spoke up.

"What are those?" he asked. Naruto picked up the second pill.

"They're a special supplement that's necessary for me, otherwise I have problems with my bones," he replied matter-of-factly. "My claws and bones are this weird amalgam of bone and weapons-grade chakra metal, and without the supplements, they won't grow right."

"Are they why you're so strong?" Sakura asked, her curiosity popping its head up. "Your bones?" The blond laughed a little.

"Partly." He gripped his chin in thought. "Hinata-chan already knows the story, but it's not a nice one. Are you sure you want to know?"

Kiba, Shino and Tazuna arrived for lunch, and once they heard what was going on, they too admitted wanting to hear the tale. Sasuke insisted on it. "If you can get that powerful, I'll get twice as powerful. After all, you're just an orphan."

Hinata shook her head as Naruto sighed. "Sasuke, all being an orphan means, is that your parents are both dead. Who else here fits that bill?" There was silence as everyone glanced at the Uchiha heir.

"That hardly matters," the dark-eyed boy stated firmly. "I need that power. If I don't avenge my clan, who will?" Naruto stared in disbelief at the other boy for a minute. Sasuke was obviously obsessing to a very unhealthy degree, but the blond didn't know what he could do about it. Sighing he began the tale.

"You can't have my abilities, because how I got them would kill you." It was a flat statement. "If it weren't for the kekkei genkai of the Uzumaki, Saiko Katsuryoku, I would have died three and a half years ago."

Sakura interrupted him. "Wait, you can't have a kekkei genkai, only clans have those."

"The Uzumaki are a clan," Naruto replied. "My mother's clan. I haven't been told who my father was." Mostly that was because, in case his suspicions were anywhere close to accurate, he was carefully avoiding asking. "Back then, I was taken to the hospital..."

* * *

Sasuke was stunned. None of them had much appetite after hearing Naruto's story. He'd told them all of what happened, up until Tsunade had found him. He was depressed awhile afterwards, though, and had spent the rest of their break for lunch wrapped in the Hyuuga girl's arms. It was one thing to be told that power had a price, and another to hear first-hand experience of some of the worst of that price. The Uchiha was starting to wonder if vengeance was worth it at that cost. Maybe he should rebuild his clan first?

Sakura was confused. That baka Naruto was a powerful shinobi? That was hard to imagine, yet he'd proven it. He had a clan? Unlikely, but possible. He had not one, but _two_ kekkei genkai? That was stretching her belief too far... but then, how often had he healed faster than he should have, when had he last been sick? He had those 'bonemetal' claws, and there was no reason to disbelieve that the material extended throughout his skeleton. So why wasn't he part of the CRA her mother was always harping on about? She would have to do some research when she got home...

Kiba was of two minds. Hinata seemed so different, stronger somehow. She hadn't stuttered, let alone fainted, in Naruto's presence even once. And her eyes were always flicking in his direction when she could see him, her hands touched him at every chance, but she didn't seem conscious of it... A light brush of her hand across his shoulders would make him smile, meeting his gaze would make her do the same... it was like watching... some old married couple, one of the happy ones, where they just knew they were meant to be. He recalled the incident about the jacket, and he recalled that she'd received a new jacket with the Uzumaki symbols just after graduation... after that test to see who was on Team Eight, for that matter, and Hinata had exploded at her new sensei on behalf of Naruto. Kiba let go of any hopes of being more than Hinata's friend. "_Hope Naruto knows how lucky he is,_" he mused.

Shino, Kurenai and Kakashi had heard parts of the story, little titbits compared to the tale they'd just heard. It was terrible, no-one should have to suffer that happening to them, and yet, this boy had. He'd even emerged stronger for the ordeal, and it was one that would have broken some adult shinobi... It was unbelievable, but Naruto left them no choice but to believe it.

* * *

Tazuna had scheduled a rest day today, so that his workmen could spend time with family, and so could he. The temperamental little Inari, Tazuna's grandson, had not got off on the right foot with Naruto. When he'd spoken of heroes dying for nothing, Naruto had laughed, a bitter, humourless chuckle.

"Listen up, brat," he retorted, startling the small boy into silence. "Because one of those heroes 'died for nothing', as you put it, Konohagakure still exists, and was able to send us to help you. That hero gave his life to save his home, and every person in it, even the ones who didn't like him, and if I'm ever regarded as half the man, half the hero he was, I'll be overjoyed." His eyes flicked to Hinata, and back. "I don't think I'm a hero, yet. I'm just someone who suffered and survived. But one day, I will be."

Kakashi nodded as he reached into his vest, and his hand emerged holding several slips of paper. "Time for training," he said, passing out the papers to each genin. "This is chakra paper, made from trees grown in areas naturally rich in chakra. What we're going to do today is determine your chakra nature and elemental affinities. This will give you an edge when it comes to learning certain jutsu. Traditionally, the Uchiha have a fire affinity, enabling them to learn those jutsu more easily, and more powerfully at that." He paused a moment, as everyone looked carefully at their paper. "Some people even have more than one affinity, or an unusual affinity that is a combination of two others. Our prisoner Haku, for instance, has the Hyoton bloodline, giving him an ice affinity. That affinity balances wind and water."

The genin all nodded, except Naruto. "How do we tell what our affinities are?" he asked.

Kakashi smiled with his eye. "It's simple, actually. You channel your chakra into the paper. Wind cuts the paper, water soaks it, fire burns it, lightning crumples it, and earth turns it to dust. The more exotic affinities require a more... creative interpretation."

The two teams wasted no time in channelling their chakra into the paper, one by one, so they could each see what the others got. Sasuke's paper crumpled up and caught fire. Sakura's turned to dust before turning to mud as it became soaked. Kiba and Shino shared the affinity for earth, but Shino's paper crumpled first, where Kiba's dust caught fire, causing a small explosion as the dust ignited. Hinata surprised everyone as her paper was cut down the middle, with one half becoming soaked while the other crumpled into a ball.

Naruto's chakra paper also revealed a triple affinity, where in place of water he had fire. Kakashi was intrigued. Between the two teams they had all five elemental natures, in some interesting combinations. With earth and water natures, Sakura had some promise as a medic-nin, for example. "Alright, now that we have knowledge of your affinities, we have to develop them. Each of you should focus on one nature at a time, as the exercises are completely different."

Naruto and Hinata discussed the whole thing at a glance. "Wind," they announced in unison. Sasuke chose lightning, because his family training had already covered his fire affinity. Sakura chose water, and Kiba and Shino selected earth.

* * *

When Naruto dropped what he was doing, and ran towards Kakashi, it was obvious that something was wrong. It was swiftly confirmed as the boy spoke quickly. "Kakashi-sensei," he said, "the bridge is being attacked, the shadow clone I left there just dispelled."

Kakashi got to his feet. "Much as I hate to say it, Team Seven's task is to protect Tazuna, not the bridge. On top of that, someone has to stay here to watch the prisoners."

Shino spoke up, his clever mind working quickly. "Perhaps Tazuna-san wishes to take the prisoners to see the hope they would have extinguished?" he suggested. "That would put us all in the right place at the right time." Kakashi nodded.

"Sakura, Hinata, let Kurenai know about the plan, and help her get the prisoners to the bridge. If Zabuza complains, tell him he might be able to earn his and Haku's freedom." With that, the genin split up.

* * *

The bridge was the site of a large number of thugs, drinking and smashing things they didn't understand, and vandalising the bridge. They weren't very effective at destroying the structure, and the bridge was sturdy enough that it would take expertise to bring it down. Gatou stood there, directing the rabble in their tasks, but his skills lay in business and dirty dealings, so he was little more effective. Still, if he occupied the bridge, no-one could finish it. As he turned, he saw the ninja the useless old man had hired, and grinned. That blasted Zabuza had failed to eliminate the builder, so he would have to be killed, too. Also, if the ninja were here, then there was no-one guarding Tazuna's home...

He raised his cane and struck it against the bridge, attracting the attention of his minions. As the heavily outnumbered genin stood there at the foot of the half-finished construction, the business tycoon pointed his cane at them and drew breath to speak...

Naruto's voice rang out across the bridge. "_This_ is the guy everyone's scared of? He's shorter than I am!"


	8. Seal 8: Preserve

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Never trust someone who smiles all the time; they're up to something.

**Author's Note:** A guest reviewer raised an excellent question. Why doesn't Naruto ask for the Uzumaki fortune? Surely that would put the civilian councillors in their place. Indeed it would, _but_: It would also cripple the economy of Konoha, something Naruto wouldn't want (at this stage, no promises for if he gets pushed too far). He wants to protect Konoha, even those parts of it that don't like him very much, not destroy it. Of course this _is_ what they're scared of him doing, because it's what they'd do, and they think it's just a matter of time...

**Eighth Seal: Preserve.**

Naruto's outburst caused all attention on the bridge to be aimed at him. As Sasuke stepped away from the other boy, and Shino and Kiba dropped their faces into their palms in their hiding places, Gatou gave his first threat. "Give up now, Tazuna, or your family will be a lot smaller by nightfall."

"Pfft!" Naruto struggled against it, but had to laugh, startling Gatou and drawing Tazuna's eyes to the orange-clad boy. "Hahahaha! Try again! If the men you sent are anything like the rest of this lot, my Hinata-chan could take them all... and she's not alone."

* * *

Hinata looked down at the would be swordsman she'd taken down, and then looked over at Sakura's foe. When they'd spoken of what they were going to do to the women and girls, neither genin had been able to stop themselves. Hinata had hit this one so many times without her weights that she very nearly destroyed the pitifully underdeveloped chakra network the thug possessed. He would be in pain for a long time, and some of his internal organs would never be the same, removing him as a threat to any woman ever again.

Sakura had achieved a similar end, but lacking the Byakugan and the precision strikes of the Gentle Fist, the pink-haired daughter of two first generation shinobi had to resort to the basics: brute force. She'd hit the man with blows of a strength she'd never known she had, and his bones weren't just broken, but in some places, shattered. Haku and Zabuza, who'd been discussing possible strategies for escape and evasion stared blankly at the girls' handiwork. Turning to Kurenai, the missing-nin Swordsman struggled to keep a tremble of... not fear, not fear... apprehension, yeah, that's it... from his voice.

"We'll behave if you promise not to let them do _that_ to us," he said, gesturing with his head towards the moaning heaps of former thug. "Now, about earning our freedom..."

Hinata's voice called out. "Sakura, you help Kurenai-Sensei, I have to get to Naru-kun!"

* * *

Gatou couldn't believe this brat. Laughing at him! He, who had dragged himself up from a cart driver to the wealthiest man in several nations! This was not to be borne...

Raising his cane once more, he pointed it at Naruto. "Kill them all!" he screamed, and the horde of thugs rushed to obey.

* * *

Hinata had barely arrived at the bridge when the tycoon's henchmen charged, and the battle began. Naruto was suddenly all business as he crossed his fingers in the familiar hand-seal of his favourite technique, and a hundred orange-clad shinobi now occupied the area, denying the thugs exit from the bridge. As she ran forwards, pushing herself to get where her Naru-kun was, although how she could pick him out among all those shadow clones she still couldn't guess, the chakra coils around her eyes raised up as she opened the Byakugan. Shino's kikaichu were of limited use here, so he was mostly fending off the thugs with a staff while they were swarmed into unconsciousness by the kikaichu _injecting_ foreign chakra into their systems, and forcing chakra shock. Kiba and Akamaru were using their Fang over Fang to great effect, it seemed designed for such large-scale operations, and Kakashi and Sasuke were simply taking down foe after foe.

Any of the thugs that came too close, she shut down with a single Gentle Fist strike, her mind idly wondering what would happen if she were to put some elemental chakra through it. She hadn't developed her affinity well enough to experiment yet, she realised, and continued to fight as she moved forwards.

Naruto had seen Hinata arriving, and moving in his direction. With a grin as the thugs charged, he extended his claws and launched himself (all of himself) into the fray. But where his kage bunshin fought mostly to keep the thugs on the bridge (Shino's plan... he didn't like the idea that they might get to the village and take hostages), Naruto himself was in the very thick of the fight. The numbers were beginning to tell on him as he swung and sliced. Then one of the thugs got hold of him from behind and grappled him, so that another could stab him from the front... Naruto furiously pulled on his chakra to do _something_, and was rewarded by the thug behind screaming and releasing him just in time for him to slash the incoming blade to the side and hammer his elbow into his attacker's temple, dropping him. The fight had paused as everyone stared at the blond. A series of bonemetal spikes, perfectly lined up with his spine, because they had emerged from his vertebrae, ran down his back, bracketed by an array of three spikes that protruded from each shoulder blade.

Those in front of him saw more. At the point of his chin and the corners of his jaw more spikes had sprung forth, and a mask of bonemetal ran around his eye-sockets, spikes at the points of his cheekbones and brow. This intimidating sight was bad enough, but with his whisker-marks glowing blue with chakra, it became downright terrifying to those who didn't know him.

As one, the thugs fighting Naruto began to back away, clubs, knives and swords falling from terrified fingers as they fought, not to win, not to slaughter and inflict pain, but to escape... and the easiest escape was over the edge of the bridge... after all it was only water, and water is soft, right?

Of course, a drop from the height of the bridge meant that the water was just as good as stone to the hapless men who took that route. Of those fighting the other shinobi, surrender seemed a much better option, although none got the chance to surrender to Hinata, who simply knocked them out and kept going, getting closer to her Naru-kun.

At the very edge of the half-finished bridge, Gatou cowered, blubbering out offers of money and power if Naruto would only spare his life. Naruto raised his fist to Gatou's throat and snarled. "You sicken me," he growled out. "You reduce people to numbers, and try to keep everything yourself." One claw, the one on the near side of his hand extended, sliding past Gatou's jaw and barely grazing his skin as it passed along his face. "You starve the innocent and terrify the people, all to worship _money_, and miss the true meaning of _wealth_." The furthest claw extended this time, actually scratching the tycoon's brow. Naruto's sapphire eyes nearly glowed against the bonemetal covering much of his face. "I have a third claw," the bonemetal wielder noted. "But you. Aren't. Worth. It." Stepping back, Naruto turned to walk away.

Gatou saw his chance and seized it with both hands, whipping out a switchblade knife and driving it into Naruto's back, right over his left kidney, at a downward angle. It was a blow to cause a slow death, a painful one, and this monster deserved no less, for daring to threaten the mighty Gatou.

Even as Naruto went to one knee, the agony washing all thought from his mind, he heard Hinata's scream. "NARUTOOOOO!" The girl with the midnight hair moved before anyone could think to stop her, her hands charged with chakra, as the limited learning she had of wind chakra came together with her Gentle Fist, and her two-finger flick to Gatou's forehead shocked them all as the business magnate's eyes glazed over. As She turned to Naruto, already gathering him in her arms, facedown, the knife still protruding from his back, Gatou's ears released a fountain of red, and blood and a greyish liquid seeped from his nose as his eyes rolled back in his head and he toppled from the bridge.

* * *

Kurenai, Zabuza and Haku had arrived for the tail-end of the fight, leaving Sakura to watch over Tazuna's family, with the thugs fleeing in panic. They saw Gatou lash out at Naruto, and Hinata's response. As the body of Gatou hit the water far below, Zabuza cleared his throat. "If she can do that with two fingers, Haku, remind me not to piss her off," he remarked, swallowing. As his ward nodded, the missing-nin Swordsman ran back over his memory of what he'd just seen, even as Kurenai ran towards her genin. It looked like she'd somehow disrupted the man's brains within his head, with a single touch, that didn't seem to do more than lightly tap against his forehead.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes as the pain in his back lessened. There was a tearing agony, gone in a second, as someone pulled the knife out, and he dropped his head to savour the soft pillow beneath him. This was Hinata's lap, he could tell by her scent, which also told him she was worried for him, acrid overtones on her enjoyment of being his pillow. He could feel his chakra swirling towards his lower back as Kurenai and Shino applied the bandages. An important thought occurred to him, and he tried to straighten up despite the pain, only to discover his Hinata-hime was _much_ stronger than she looked as she held him in place. "Gatou," he croaked, his throat really dry for some reason.

A blank look descended on Hinata's face, and he knew what had happened, even before she spoke. "That man will never hurt another again, Naru-kun. I lost my temper, and I think I overdid it."

He smiled as she used the phrase he'd spoken when he'd sliced up Zabuza's sword. It was a wan thing, if a sincere one. "Better him than us... than you," he murmured. "I'm sorry."

Hinata was blind-sided by the apology. "Why?" she asked.

"Because if I had just... killed him," Naruto said in explanation, "he wouldn't have stabbed me, and you wouldn't have had to... kill him. So I'm sorry."

She wrapped her arms around his head, even as he felt the wound sealing. His Sokai Katsuryoku apparently healed the most dangerous injuries first, because it was now restoring both the skin and the nerves in it. Kurenai and Shino were openly staring at the injury which was healing faster than they could treat it. Naruto's bonemetal protrusions had retreated once more, leaving holes all over his shirt and jacket, and leaving them all with much to ponder.

* * *

Zabuza and Kurenai had, with Tsunami representing the locals, negotiated a long term contract between Momochi Zabuza and Nami no Kuni to establish a minor shinobi village to protect the tiny land, ensuring that no-one like Gatou could come to power again. The former missing-nin was now the Shodaime Shiokage, at least on paper, of Shiogakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Tides. Now he just had to worry about the construction of the village and recruiting those who would be decent ninja for it. He had a few ideas on that front, especially with the bloodline purges that had plagued Kiri. Even though the bridge was yet incomplete, there was little doubt that the mission was done.

Kurenai spent some time with Hinata, trying to help her deal with the consequences of her first kill, a painful thing for the gentle young woman... by no means was she a girl any longer... and the nightmares that would come in the night. It was of little surprise that Naruto was her greatest source of comfort at this time, and the two of them were often found in the mornings curled around each other... fully clad, of course. Indeed, on those occasions that they were not, both slept badly, waking from their respective nightmares ready to fight. Finally, the two jonin gave up and shuffled the sleeping arrangements around a little, but always had someone watching the couple.

Naruto's newfound ability to manipulate his bonemetal was just begging to be further explored, but Kurenai put her foot down and insisted it only happen in the safety of Konoha. Accepting it with a grumble here and there, the genin all turned their energies towards their elemental chakra training. Once they all managed the first step, they were put to practising the next phase of chakra control: water walking.

Although the genin were more than happy to attempt this, there were a few hiccups. Shino refused to attempt this on any body of water that he could be immersed in. The colonies in each Aburame reacted badly when they were deprived of air, and in such situations, it was not unknown for them to die before they got a chance to drown.

Naruto's problem came to light when his first attempt to water-walk failed, and he plunged straight to the bottom of the water. Fortunately Kakashi and Kurenai dragged him out from the surface, a little surprised at his weight, before breathing became an issue. With Hinata's help, and the fact he couldn't float, let alone swim effectively as motivation, he redoubled his efforts. By the time Teams Seven and Eight reached the gates of Konoha, the genin had grasped the technique to their sensei's satisfaction, and were permitted to begin the exercises for their second element. Sasuke, already having reached this point, received a scroll with a few jutsu that related to fire and lightning. The Uchiha smirked at Naruto, and when the two Teams were dismissed with instructions to write their mission reports to the Hokage, and deliver them in the morning, he wandered off towards the Uchiha estate. For a change, Sakura didn't try to follow along behind him, instead heading home to do some long-put-off research, into clan symbols, clan rights, and kekkei genkai. Naruto invited his team-mates, and Kiba, who'd been left behind by his team-mates, to dinner at his place that night, so they could discuss and write their reports together.

Hinata nodded, and also asked to invite her father and Hanabi, which Naruto warily agreed to, and the group parted ways.

* * *

Somewhere in Ta no Kuni, a hidden complex held the stronghold known as Otogakure no Sato, a new Hidden Village that was ruled by the sinister Orochimaru. It was he who sat reading a report he had been waiting for, and he was overjoyed. The Last Uchiha had awakened his sharingan, and all the other pieces were in place. In just a little while, the Chunin Exams would begin, and he would destroy Konoha and take the Uchiha legacy for his own.

He was startled when a description of the other genin on that mission was included, especially that of a blond boy with unusual abilities. This bonemetal manipulation sounded somewhat like the Dead Bone Pulse that Kimimaro possessed, but there were differences. He paused as he realised that this boy must have been that experiment that had been dying at his previous stronghold, the one that was massacred. The boy's own kekkei genkai had been overwhelmed by the experiment and he should have died...

He made a note to one of his teams to observe the boy's progress. It was possible he'd need a contingency plan, and this boy's two kekkei genkai intrigued him. Maybe he should mark them both and let them fight it out to be his next vessel? He giggled at the thought. No, for now the Uchiha was enough. Maybe after he'd mastered those wonderful eyes, he could try to claim the other genin's kekkei genkai, but first, he had a village to destroy...

* * *

The Chief Medical Officer at Konoha's hospital turned the analysis of Gatou's corpse over to the Hokage, as Kurenai stood before his desk. The paperwork stack was larger than the last time she'd been here, but not the largest she'd ever seen. As Hiruzen scanned the report, he nodded. This was incredible, almost unbelievable. And all because of the conformity and thus stagnation that the Hyuuga Main House had insisted on, it would have remained unguessed at. The Gentle Fist was a style that lent itself to earth and water manipulation more easily, and by Kurenai's estimate, Hinata had been mostly unaware of what she'd done, but if the autopsy were to be believed, the young kunoichi had used the Gentle Fist technique to strike at a tenketsu located in the target's brain, and unleashed wind chakra into his skull cavity, with the resulting overpressure literally scrambling everything inside. The man was dead before he even knew she'd touched him.

Informing Kurenai of this took but moments. "Now, what are your opinions on your genin, Kurenai-san," he then asked.

Kurenai didn't even have to think. "They are all well above average, each in their own way. I was wrong about the way Naruto's presence affected Hinata, too. Instead of distracting her, it seems he spurs her on. It's something I just didn't understand at the time." She shook her head. "On top of that, with them as an example, Shino is pushing himself to figure out new uses for his kikaichu colony, and methods to avoid relying on it overly. His staff forms could use a little more polish, but other than that..." She paused as she realised what the Hokage was really asking her. "I'd put them forward for the Chunin Exams today, if it weren't for the clause Hyuuga Hiashi put in their contract... they're supposed to wed once they become Chunin, and I don't think he'd want it to happen so soon."

Hiruzen nodded. "It's very rare that anyone becomes Chunin on their first attempt at the Chunin exams," he assured her. "I simply thought it would be a valuable experience for them in the future. After all, it would certainly let them know what to expect for the next time they are nominated."

The red-eyed kunoichi's snort of disbelief was not the response the old man was expecting. "You should read my report again," she said. "Naruto has a way of not only pulling off the impossible, but getting his friends to manage it as well. It was considered impossible for a genin to survive fighting Momochi Zabuza. Naruto destroyed his sword. It was impossible for a fresh genin to kill with a touch. Hinata eliminated Gatou in that way for stabbing Naruto. I'm just waiting with bated breath to see what piece of conventional wisdom about the impossible Shino tears apart." She suddenly remembered exactly _whom_ she was ranting at. "My apologies Hokage-sama, but Naruto... he seems to take 'impossible' as a challenge, not a limitation."

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded. "As well he should," he replied, sliding a number of forms across the table. Entry forms for the Chunin Exams. "And if he manages it again, here... I'm sure he'll take Hiashi-san's advice when it comes to when the wedding will take place." A sense of foreboding washed across him. "I just hope I'm there to see it."

As Kurenai was leaving, she passed a bald, goatee-wearing chunin with dark glasses. Shinshi had a pile of mission reports from Team Ten, it seemed, and a number of complaints for the Hokage. She nodded as she passed, and smiled as he disappeared into the office.

* * *

As Naruto wandered the long street back to his house, pondering what to prepare for dinner, he paused, leaning against a fence as he did. Looking up at the clouds, he waited a few moments, and sure enough, after a little while, the 'wall' started to wriggle and complain as Sarutobi Konohamaru dropped the camouflage sheet that was meant to resemble the fence.

"Urggh," he groaned, "I give, I give." As Naruto released the younger boy, he gasped for air.

"How about you have your friends join us,Kono-kun," the blond said off-handedly, gesturing towards their hiding places, as a girl with orange hair and a boy with glasses stepped out from behind a pole and a garbage can respectively.

"You were right Konohamaru," said the girl, impressed despite herself, and Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. The scarf-wearing boy grinned in response.

"See, I told you my ani-san was cool," he said, before turning towards Naruto. "How'd you know?"

Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose as he crouched down. Don't you think you should introduce me first?" he asked. "You've told them who I am, but that has to go both ways. I don't just reveal my secrets to _anyone_, you know."

Now Konohamaru rubbed at his neck, mimicking a boy he saw as worth copying, even if he wasn't aware that's what he was doing. "Sorry, ani-san," he replied. "I got carried away. These are Utatane Moegi and Koetsuji Udon. They don't have clans, and haven't got any clan stuff, so I figured if I stick with them at the Academy, and help them with the stuff that a family or clan would have already taught them, that way we get better shinobi when we graduate. Besides, they're my friends now, and that's what friends do, right?"

Naruto smiled. "That's exactly right. So why are you three chasing _me_ down?"

The obvious spokesman for the small group spoke up. "I wanted to show off my ani-san, and these two wanted to meet you. But you really are good, I mean, we've been looking for you for days and couldn't find you. I was going to ask Oji if he knew where you were, but I thought it'd be better if we found you on our own."

The other boy sniffed, his nose a little runny. "_Allergies,_" thought Naruto, handing him a handkerchief.

"Thank you, Uzumaki-sama," the boy said, and blew his nose. His little 'team' stared at him, then at Naruto. As Naruto's raised eyebrow invited him to explain (a trick the genin had perfected by watching his soon-to-be father-in-law), Udon explained himself.

"Konohamaru kept going on about his new ani-san, and how he had a rival to become Hokage, and Moegi's Oba is always complaining about the Uzumaki estate sitting stagnant when it could be doing something for the village. One of my hobbies is heraldry, so I can recognise most of the symbols and emblems in use today." He paused for breath before continuing, his voice sort of stuffy. "The red and white spirals are worn by chunin and higher as part of the treaty that allowed the founding of Konoha, although prior to fifty-three years ago, during the Nidaime's rule, the spirals were both white. Other than that, the spirals can only be worn by the members of the Uzumaki clan, of whom there is only one. Hence, you are Uzumaki-sama."

The boy's reasoning was impressive. Naruto nodded. "Very good," he said slowly. "Maybe you should have the hospital give you something for those allergies."

Udon shook his head. "They tried. I was allergic to it."

* * *

Konohamaru was shortly pestering Naruto to 'play ninja' with them, but Naruto declined. If he'd never been abducted, he might feel differently, but as it was...

"Now you're part of the Academy, you don't get to play ninja," he said to them. "It isn't a game. It's a way of life, and a serious one at that. Remember what I said about becoming Hokage, Kono-kun? It's no less important than that. Ninja are... they're like..." He scoured his mind, trying to find a way to explain it. "It's like the village is a person," he finally concluded. "The Hokage's the head, because he has to make all the decisions, and the civilians are the body, the parts that allow the rest of the body to do what it does. The ninja are the village's arms and legs, the hands and feet. They go where the Hokage tells them and they do what he tells them, all to protect the body. But they're also the eyes and ears, bringing information for the Hokage to use to make his decisions."

Moegi raised her hand as if she were in class, and Naruto grinned as he waved for her to ask. "So who's the heart?"

Naruto raised his head and stared off towards the Hyuuga compound where Hinata was no doubt asking her father and sister to dinner at his place at that very moment. At a whim, Naruto decided to ask for help with dinner that night, maybe that barbeque place that Chouji had always liked in the Academy? "The heart is different for everyone. It's the most precious people that each of us has, the ones we'd do anything, become anything, for, and even die to protect..." For a moment he recalled all Tsunade had told him about his mother, and then spoke up again.

"So I won't 'play ninja' with you," he said, watching as the slightly crestfallen children accepted that with a stoic reserve. "But I _will_ give you an impromptu training session for the next..." he glanced at the sun and shadows... "twenty minutes, then I have to get dinner... If I can catch all of you by then, as my prisoners, you'll have to help me out. Okay?" He was trying hard not to laugh at the eager faces as they nodded. "Escape and evasion. Go!"

* * *

As Naruto raced in pursuit of Konhamaru and his friends, he saw that they had a good sense of each other, and acted as a team. Whenever he'd get close to one, another would race in and distract him away at the critical point. Still, this was Naruto, and even without the self-imposed rule of 'no shadow clones', he'd managed to 'capture' Udon and Moegi, who were following him now, but weren't allowed to interfere. As the Hokage's grandson ran down a narrow street, he looked back over his shoulder to see where Naruto had gotten to, and slammed into someone. Looking up revealed a man in an odd black jumpsuit, like a stagehand at a play, except for the red and orange circle on the front. He wore facial war-paint, and had an hourglass shape under a bar on his hitai-ate, and carried a heavily bandaged shape on his back.

As the stranger, a bit older than Naruto if he was any judge, lifted Konohamaru by the front of his shirt, smirking in a menacing fashion, a blond girl in mesh and a short kimono walked closer, her hair arrayed in four short tails sticking out behind her. Her hitai-ate matched the boys, and Naruto went to high alert, feeding chakra to his senses and sniffing at the air even as Udon spoke up nervously...

"Th-that's the emblem of Sunagakure no Sato, they're our allies, I think..." he muttered. Naruto nodded as the Suna kunoichi spoke.

"Kankuro, he's just a kid, let him go," she said, a slightly cruel smile on her face, knowing that her brother wouldn't let it go so easily. Indeed, Kankuro ignored the suggestion, holding Konohamaru at arm's length in a needless display.

"Why, Temari, is there a size limit on brats now? I feel like toying with my prey for a while, unless he can apologise real quick..." With his weight dragging at his scarf and shirt, the Konoha Academy student was hard-pressed to breathe, let alone speak.

There was a blur of orange, and Konohamaru was replaced by a hissing tag, which the surprised Suna nin nonetheless got rid of as fast as he could throwing it down the street, where it burst into a thick cloud of white smoke, revealing Konohamaru gasping for breath. As the painted shinobi started to move, he found a hand upon his shoulder, and turned to look into sapphire eyes, as hard as the stone they resembled... in the face of a shinobi younger than he was.

* * *

Temari stepped back in shock as this boy appeared out of nowhere, suddenly gripping Kankuro's shoulder and glaring at him. Kankuro went for his puppet, a tactic she knew well enough that she went for her fan, only to pause as two claws slid from the boy's fist, bracketing her throat, while _three _claws emerged from his other hand and slashed through the bandages holding Kankuro's puppet. She swallowed nervously as she saw the spacing of the claws on that other hand, noticing that it meant he _hadn't_ extended the middle one on _this_ hand, a fact she could live with... because he had, she wouldn't have.

Kankuro froze at the claws held in his direction. "The first hostile move was yours, Suna-san," the boy said quietly, before raising his voice. "Kono-kun, could you and your friends get an order of barbeque from that place near the Akimichi estate. There'll be ten of us eating, and I'll pay you back after we're paid for our mission." The boy nodded, a little startled at his ani-san having those claws, and the three student shinobi took off. Naruto turned to the kunoichi and spoke politely. This was a really sticky situation. "If you would kindly request your other sniff, sniff brother join us, we can speak like civilised homicidal maniacs," he grinned, sliding his claws back into his arms.

As the red-head with a gourd on his back dropped from the tree. Naruto's passenger groaned. "**I recognise that smell of blood and sand, gaki. This guy is something like you. Not as powerful as me of course, and nowhere near as well adjusted.**"

The strange Suna shinobi glared at Naruto. "Kankuro, Temari," he said in a dead tone. "You are a disgrace." He focused on the blue-eyed jinchuuriki. "You... you are strong. Your blood will satisfy my mother. Do not die until I kill you."

Naruto formulated a new personal rule: Do not unnecessarily antagonise a crazy person. "I'll try not to disappoint," he said. "I am Uzumaki Naruto. If we are to face each other, we should each know the name of the other, yes?"

"I am Sabaku no Gaara," the stranger said, his tone still dead and flat. "You have learned the names of my siblings. Good-bye. Temari, Kankuro, come."

"One second, please," Naruto said to the kunoichi, who seemed to have the fewest screws loose. "Why are you here in Konoha?"

The blonde kunoichi from Suna glared at the blond ninja from Konoha. "We're here for the Chunin Exams. I hope you weren't planning to survive them."


	9. Seal 9: Challenge

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Impossible just means no-one's managed it... yet.

**Ninth Seal: Challenge.**

Dinner at Naruto's that night was interesting. He'd ordered for a few extra people, just in case, and it had been a good thing he did. In addition to Kiba, Shino and Hinata, as well as Hiashi and Hanabi, Kurenai had shown up to discuss something with her team, and found herself invited to stay for dinner. Finally, Konohamaru and his grandfather were also invited, as a last-minute thank you to the boy for fetching the order for Naruto.

After the food was all gone, and a number of his kage bunshin were set to the task of cleaning up afterwards, including one that he assigned to a mission report, getting quick statements from the other members of his team, he got down to business. He turned to the Hokage, who was staring at the shadow clone writing the report, with a look of stunned realisation on his face. "So that's how he did it," the old shinobi said cryptically. "How did I miss something so simple... then again, few people have that much chakra..."

"Jiji-sama," Naruto interrupted the old man's musings on vanquishing the paperwork, "I ran into a few Suna genin today, and they mentioned the Chunin Exams." He then told Hiruzen of the encounter, even down to disguising the play session with Konohamaru as training. Since that boy was asleep on a futon unrolled in one of Naruto's three guest rooms, he felt secure in speaking to the Hokage on this matter. As he finished, he waited patiently for the response.

"I see," Hiruzen said, trying to see all the angles involved, but it felt like something was... off, as if part of his mind was covered in a haze... he brushed it off as old age and answered the unspoken questions on the faces around him. "Yes, the Chunin Exams are being held here in Konoha this time. Every six months they are held, and I believe the last ones were held in Suna, although I'm not certain off the top of my head. Kiba, the village council is adamant that your team, because of your team-mate Sasuke, receive the chance to participate, so your sensei will be talking to you about it tomorrow before your training. Kurenai, since all your genin are here, you may discuss it with them now." He yawned. "I'm sorry. It seems that my age is catching up to me. I had best get Konohamaru home soon. If you will excuse me..."

As the Sandaime left, his grandson in his arms, protesting that he wasn't sleepy, even as Hyuuga Hanabi stifled a yawn of her own, Kurenai stood. "Hyuuga-sama," she said, speaking formally, even as Hinata knelt with her sister, while gazing across the room at Naruto, who was talking with Shino. "There are matters we must discuss now, repercussions from our previous mission that you need to know."

The two adults stepped aside as her genin, Kiba having set off for home, began a game of cards with Hanabi. Predictably, Naruto was winning. Kurenai sighed. She did not want to be the one telling Hiashi this, but there was no-one else who could... or should.

"Since you took Naruto in for that one night, I assume you are aware of his nightmares?" she said, assessing how much he knew. When the Hyuuga Head sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose, she took it as bad news.

"He had no nightmares that night." Hiashi's statement was flat, but somehow the red-eyed kunoichi didn't doubt him for a second. "When we arrived at the clan estate, he was already asleep, and would not release Hinata. I left them with a chaperone, trading off for fresh watchers as they tired, all night." He looked up at her. "I take it something similar occurred on the mission."

There was no easy way to say it. "Hinata made her first kill on the mission." It was blunt, but it worked, and Hiashi froze, his pale eyes staring at his daughter's sensei. "It was a man who had critically injured Naruto, and he was dead before he even realised that she'd touched him, and I mean touched him. A single tap of her finger against his forehead while melding wind chakra with the Gentle Fist techniques, and she pretty much liquefied his brains. She took it badly, and was having nightmares, not of the killing, but of freezing up while he kept stabbing Naruto. _I_ know that she would never have let that happen, but she doesn't, and continues to have them unless she is constantly assured of Naruto's well-being. Combined with his own nightmares... it was simpler to leave them in the same bed with a chaperone in the room than fight them down after the nightmares... especially with his kekkei genkai."

Hiashi nodded absently. It wasn't a perfect solution, and although the Yamanaka could work miracles in the mind (the clan head's wife was a remarkably effective therapist), if they were to take part in this exam, they would not have time for the therapy. "Sarutobi-sama is pressing this?" he asked, hoping it was not the case.

Kurenai nodded. "He mentioned that if Naruto managed the impossible again this time, he was sure he'd take _your_ advice on when the wedding was, since the contract stated that they would marry upon reaching chunin... What's wrong?" Hiashi had gone white as a sheet. With the typical Hyuuga colouring, he'd already been halfway there, but still...

He reached into his kimono for the copy of the marriage contract he always carried with him to reassure himself that his daughter would be safe. Now he opened it, and rather than perusing the terms and conditions relating to the clans involved and their duties, he scrolled through to the conditions on the wedding itself. Upon reaching the rank of chunin, the couple were to be wed. Bold as black on white, it gave no wiggle room, although there were no requirements on... thank the kami... consummation. There wasn't even a requirement to produce a child within a given time, as was common for so many of these marriage deals, but... his daughter! All he could do was pray that one or the other (both, to be on the safe side) didn't make chunin this year... but from what he'd heard of their accomplishments just tonight, he doubted that would happen. The only way to guarantee they didn't was... not to enter them.

* * *

While the adults were beyond earshot of even Naruto, knowing how sharp his hearing was, the genin, with Hanabi's tired input talked about the Exams. Shino was uncertain if he was good enough to make it through them, and no-one who'd been entered before spoke of the events... it was apparently in the waivers not to.

"Do you really think we're ready for this?" the kikaichu wielder asked. "It's not just the Exams I'm talking about, either. According to my parents, genin rank is a medium, sort of an adolescence for shinobi, if you think of the Academy as childhood. If we make it to chunin, that means we take a step into the adult world, both figuratively and legally. There are things that genin are somewhat sheltered from that chunin may have to do... assassination for one."

Naruto nodded. "I don't know if anyone is ever really ready," he said, pulling his Hinata-hime close as they snuggled against each other. "I just think we could make it. The real question is... should we?"

Hinata threw her hand on the pile of cards in the middle. "Fold. I think we sh-should." As she moved, Naruto's hand brushed against her arm, causing a shiver to run up her spine. "As it is, any chunin or jonin can give us orders, and if Kurenai-sensei isn't right there, we don't have _any_ leeway to work with beyond the orders themselves. If we're chunin, we're expected to use our initiative in such matters. We don't have as much freedom in mission choice as a jonin would, but there's more protection for us as chunin than if we're not."

Shino shrugged as he tossed one card in. "One card. I concur. You do make sense, but I do wonder if we're ready to be adults. We _are_ only thirteen, after all."

Hanabi yawned again as she threw in two cards, and replaced them. "I don't know what you're talking about, but shouldn't you always do your best? How are people supposed to know what you can do if you don't show them?"

Naruto glanced at his cards and threw them in. No-one was surprised by his words though. "Five cards. So we do this?" He looked around as Hinata nodded, and then Shino. "Nice. Call them." He hadn't even looked at the five cards face down on the table, and Hinata had folded every time.

Shino's full house fell to Hanabi's four fives, and they looked at Naruto as he flipped his cards one by one. Ten of hearts, Jack of Hearts, Queen of hearts, King of hearts, Ace of Hearts. As the others shook their heads, Hanabi asked the question all of them wanted answered. "How do you do that?"

Naruto smiled. "I don't care if I win or lose. It's just money. That's nowhere near as important to me as Hinata-chan, or even you. A lot of folks forget that. It should never be about the money, but who the money lets you help."

The genin stood as the adults returned, and Hanabi stifled another yawn. This one seemed contagious, as Naruto followed suit. He wasn't looking forward to the nightmare he knew was lurking in wait for him, but it was something he had to deal with. As he shook away his apprehension, he realised Hiashi was speaking.

"Hinata, your sensei has explained certain events to me that have had repercussions that must be faced. However, with things as they are, we have neither the time nor the resources immediately available until after the Chunin Exams. There is a stopgap measure until such time as we can arrange therapy with the Yamanaka clan, and we will take advantage of that, should Uzimaki-san be willing. You and a chaperone shall spend your nights here..." For the first time in his life since his wife Hinami had died, Hiashi had no idea what to do, as his overjoyed eldest wrapped him in a hug.

* * *

At the meeting the next morning, before they went out to meet their teams, the jonin-sensei of Konoha's genin teams were called upon to answer the Hokage. Those who were confident enough to nominate their genin for the Chunin Exams were to step forward to do so. There were four genin teams who had attempted the Exams before, the youngest being seventeen, while the oldest team averaged twenty. Then Hatake Kakashi stepped forward.

"I believe Team Seven will benefit from the Chunin Exams," he said. "It gives them a goal to work for, and should they not be promoted, they will have that experience to temper them for next time. Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba are ready to attempt the Chunin Exams."

Kurenai also stepped forward, a smile on her face. "Team Eight is ready to take these Exams, Hokage-sama," she told the room. "Aburame Shino has trained well, Hyuuga Hinata is ready, and Uzumaki Naruto... I believe in him and them."

A green spandex clad jonin was intrigued by this, even as Sarutobi's son took his place. "I'm told Team Ten is ready," he said. "Shinshi believes that Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino are good for this. I also recommend he be assigned as their jonin-sensei for the Exams. He's been working with them on some specialised skills and tactics I wouldn't have thought of, and he's better at teaching than I am." He was relieved as Hiruzen nodded.

The green clad jonin stepped into the light, revealing a bowl-cut hairstyle and a set of teeth too white to be natural. "If my eternal rival's team is ready, then Team Nine will meet this challenge with all the flames of youth!" he declared, standing straight and extending his thumbs- up sign towards the Hokage, who looked at him blankly for a moment. "What say you, Kakashi? Shall we wager our destinies on our genin?"

The sharingan-bearing jonin knew only one way to deal with this, and struck the most nonchalant pose he could manage. "I'm sorry, Gai, did you say something?" As the green-clad taijutsu specialist began muttering about Kakashi's attitude being 'too hip and cool', he returned his attention to Hiruzen.

"Very well, then," the Hokage said. "Get your genin those forms, and have them drop them off at the examination centre tomorrow morning. That is all, dismissed."

* * *

Team Eight's definition of light training included two D-rank missions that morning, although between their techniques, they made short work of each. They broke for lunch at Ichiraku's, and spoke quietly of possible preparations as Kurenai told them where and when to hand their forms in. Ninja from other villages were making there presence known, and two of these were closely watched by ANBU. The Kumogakure team was led by a dark-skinned man, and consisted of an inverted squad: two kunoichi and a male genin. Iwagakure supplied the other team, two solid stocky shinobi and a young woman who seemed carved from marble, led by a massive bear of a man with a scar that ran from his scalp, across his left eye-socket, which held a red gemstone in place of an eyeball, and down his chest to his waist. This was Ishiguma Daikenshi, who was rumoured to have stood against the Yondaime Hokage and survived, despite the wound that took his eye.

The afternoon was devoted to the last minute training with their second elements, in an attempt to bring both elements together, an important step in certain manoeuvres. Hinata managed more easily than Shino or Naruto did, with the wind and water elements working together more easily than they'd expected. When she used the Gentle Fist with these elemental natures added, she was astounded to find her water chakra extended the impact of the initial strike to other tenketsu around the one targeted, in a sort of shock-wave effect, while the wind chakra caused a more serious injury to the chakra network, delaying the unassisted recovery by as much as days, although Naruto healed in mere minutes instead.

Naruto's attempts, although he did manage to develop his lightning element, failed to combine. He felt there was something, some piece of information he was missing. It wasn't a total failure, though, putting lightning jutsu within his reach.

Shino's lightning element allowed him to give new meaning to the term 'lightning bugs' as the kikaichu who dwelled within him also acquired that affinity. With his earth affinity allowing him to safely ground the tiny beetles' discharges, they made an incredible secret weapon. While he couldn't combine them, they did complement well.

* * *

Kurenai was extremely proud of her genin. Achieving a second affinity at their age was very nearly unique. Having the potential may have been common enough, but actually developing that potential took hard work and focus. "Naruto, Hinata, Shino, excellent work," she told them. "So have you decided on whether or not you all want to try the Exams?"

"Yes," Shino said. "It will be a valuable experience for next time we are nominated."

Hinata shook her head at Shino's pessimistic outlook. It wasn't that he'd put forth less than his all, but rather that he didn't expect to get far with it. She turned to their sensei. "I believe we are ready for this, Kurenai-sensei," she added. Their sensei was also the chaperone Hiashi had appointed for them, which resulted in her staying the nights at the Uzumaki estate. "All three of us agreed to try this, and we'll make you proud sensei."

"You already have," Kurenei replied. She turned to Naruto. "Even... no, especially you, Naruto. You proved me wrong about so many things, and you don't just stride forwards, you bring others with you when you do. Don't lose that, and someday you'll be a wonderful Hokage. I believe it." Surprised by her paraphrasing his catchphrase, Naruto paused, then grinned.

"Thanks, Kurenai-sensei," he said. "So what now? I think we've pretty much done this to death right now." He stared at his hands where two coins were sparking and frowned as he closed them, concentrating. Hinata saw his chakra concentrating in his hands as he focused... When he opened his hands, there was a line scored down the centre of each coin, but nothing more. "Gah! I thought I had it that time."

Kurenai thought for a moment. There was something she could do here to help them, but it likely wouldn't come to fruition for a while, at least not until the break between the second and third sections of the Chunin Exams...

* * *

A shadowed figure stood in the Hokage's office, shrouded in an obscuring cloak and hat coloured the grey of storm clouds, and embroidered with a crane in flight. Hiruzen looked the man over. "Tsuru Shikunshi, how goes your mission?" he asked.

Gentleman Crane had taken on a deep infiltration mission at the behest of Jiraiya years ago, worming his way into the upper echelons of another village's jonin. Now he stood in the land of his birth once more. "I found three, Hokage-sama, and it took some time to manipulate their placement in my charge. None of them, however is originally from here. One comes from the peaks, another from the plains, and the third from the hard-to-see." He was deliberately cryptic, a habit of being a spy where he had to assume everything he said and did was watched. "They have no strong loyalties to their current dwelling save their sensei. However, I must warn you, we were told that an upheaval would soon occur, and that we should take any opportunity to acquire that which was failed at so long ago."

Hiruzen nodded. "Likewise. Have you heard? There is a fourth Gentleman these days."

The hidden face smiled. "Then the legend will grow, Hokage-sama," he said. "And the other?"

"He is the child of his parents, but tempered in suffering," Hiruzen replied taking off his hat to rub at his temples with the other hand. "He is doing better than I would have thought, did I not know him." Shikunshi wasn't the only one who could be cryptic.

* * *

"_I could really get used to this,_" Naruto thought as he woke in Hinata's arms again. He could see Kurenai-sensei on her futon near the door, and smiled. He was amazed at the trust she put in him, aware on some level that it was an attempt to make up to him for her misjudgement of him back when the team first came together... was it really only three months ago? "_Wow, why does it seem so much longer? Oh, well,_" he thought, and a grin broke out across his face. "_Time to wake my princess._"

Hinata enjoyed a number of things when it came to sleeping in Naruto's arms. The lack of nightmares was an important one, for both of them. She could only guess at the damage Naruto could cause by accident in the throes of a nightmare... Another, however, and a less public reason was his new method of waking her if he woke first. She could very easily get used to those morning kisses, lightly brushing his lips against hers and nuzzling his nose into her hair. She giggled as it tickled her ear, and sat up.

Her giggle had woken Kurenai-sensei, and the woman rose from her mattress. Preparations were quick and easy, and the two genin soon left the building at a run to meet Shino before the Exams. Sighing she also left, to go to a gathering of jonin-sensei that was hoping to place bets on how their teams would do. As she passed the Academy, she heard a voice call out to her... Anko.

"Hey, Kurenai, wait up! See, I told you she'd come this way." The latter half of her comment seemed to be directed at a scar-faced chunin, that teacher... Iruka? That sounded like it.

"What can I do for you today, Anko?" Kurenai asked with a smile, and her somewhat unusual friend grinned back.

"Iruka here was a bit worried about Naruto, and I wanted to hear about this kid, too. We have quite a bit in common." Anko glared towards the north, beyond the walls of Konoha, then came back to herself. "So what can you tell us?"

The red-eyed jonin nodded. She knew all too well what her friend and her student had in common: they had both been experiments for Orochimaru, until he discarded them. But Naruto didn't have that curse-mark, and Anko did, although she flatly refused to tap into it, and yet people still judged her by her former sensei. "Well, his team are off to the Chunin Exams now..."

Iruka interrupted her with a panicked expression. "What?! But its only been three months... surely it's impossible for them to be ready for it this soon."

Kurenai grinned. "Uzumaki Naruto rule one," she said. "Impossible is not a limitation, it's a challenge. Challenge accepted!" She laughed at the look on the Academy sensei's face, as Anko grinned.

"I like the gaki already," she opined. Turning to Iruka she kept speaking. "You told me he was orphaned, and put upon, and that there were attempts to sabotage him academically, and that no-one was ever giving him anything he didn't fight for." As Iruka nodded, Kurenai shook her head.

"That may be true," she replied, though Anko's comment had not been in her direction, "but what he has fought for... Iruka, in the three months since he left the Academy, he's changed my mind about having him on my team, finished several missions, including a mis-ranked B or A, the Hokage still hasn't decided how he's dealing with that, faced missing-nin, helped take down one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, had his home burned down, moved to a new one, gotten engaged, turned the Hyuuga clan on their heads, and begun to master and integrate his elemental affinities." As Umino Iruka's jaw gaped, she nailed the argument. "And he hasn't left his team-mates behind, either, as he pulls them up with him with each step he takes higher. They're ready."

"B-buh," Iruka stammered, getting his jaw under control. "But I heard that Morino Ibiki was the Exam proctor for the first exam," he finally said.

Kurenai sighed. "Come on then, we'll need to put together a gift basket for condolences."

Anko shook her head. "I'm proctor for the second exam, and I don't know what your genin like," she protested, and her red-eyed friend blinked at the purple-haired woman.

"It's not for them," she explained. "It's for Ibiki."

* * *

Having handed in their forms, the genin were instructed on which room to go to. The man wasn't lying about that, according to the enhanced senses of Team Eight., and they began to climb the stairs. They came across a crowd of genin outside a door that proclaimed itself to be room 301, their destination according to the slip of paper they'd received... but the door they'd just passed had the number 205 on it. Naruto smiled at the two 'genin' standing in front of the door. They smelled much older than they looked...

"Multiple genjutsu," he whispered to his team. As they nodded, all three of them moved to the next staircase and began to climb. Behind them they heard Sasuke's voice telling the 'genin' to take down the genjutsu that disguised the door. Naruto slapped his forehead into his palm. Apparently his old classmate didn't realise this was part of the first exam, obviously intended to weed out those who took the appearance of something as fact. Looking back he saw Neji stepping up to berate the Uchiha for breaking the fate of those who should not have advanced. Sasuke didn't react well, and when Neji said something about 'weak clans deserving their fate', Sasuke attacked, and Neji responded. The fight was stopped before it started by a boy about their age, maybe a year or so older, in neck-to-ankle green spandex, with a bowl cut hairstyle and the bushiest eyebrows any of them had seen, who seemed to be Neji's team-mate. Their third member was a kunoichi with a number of scrolls about her person, and Lee issued a promise of love to Sakura, who was creeped out by it for some reason, and a challenge to fight Sasuke.

As they began to wander off to a place more suitable for such a fight, Naruto was suddenly amongst them. "Sasuke, Lee-san," he said. "You don't have time for this. Since so many others have gotten past the genjutsu challenge _thanks to Sasuke_, they may not have enough space in the exam room, and if you don't get there before it's full..."

Sasuke sneered at him. "So why are you here instead of there with your team?"

"Oh, I'm just a shadow clone..."

* * *

Sakura was angry. To be honest, she'd had a crappy time for the past few days. When she'd gotten home after the mission to Nami no Kuni, she had thrown herself into researching the clan symbols and emblems, their laws and customs... and the Uzumaki clan. It was right there, once she went looking for it. But her parents had caught her at it, and demanded to know why she was looking at this. After telling them about the situation, she wished she hadn't. Her father simply nodded. He was a research nin at the hospital after being removed from active duty, but her mother was the councillor representing those shinobi who didn't have a clan...

She muttered something about the CRA finally giving her something to use against some demon, Sakura thinking she was speaking metaphorically, and raced out. Apparently her mother didn't like Naruto either. But the CRA reference kept nagging at her mind, until she had to go and look _that_ up... and found something that was just shy of an atrocity.

The Clan Restoration Act was apparently a law that allowed a threatened clan, one that had only a single living male of the line remaining, to take multiple wives to aid in restoring that clan. The real problem was in the fine print. Her father had often complained about having to read it, but when a much younger Sakura had asked him why he didn't just skip it, she was told that not knowing what was in it could be far, far worse than the chore of reading it. The fine print in this case was horrendous. It gave the women no choice, making them little more than baby factories, and chaining them forever to a man they might not love, or like. They might even hate him and they would still be forced to do this anyway. She could see why Sasuke wasn't under this law, as his brother Itachi, renegade or not, was still alive. But Naruto was alone, the last Uzumaki... and she'd put her mother on his trail. The worst part of it was that as an underage child or genin, he wouldn't have any choice in who he was wedded to either. To have the whole decision taken from him on who he could marry, that was terrible, especially since he was engaged to Hinata now... It was just as well that the Chunin Exams would delay any attempt to implement the CRA...

The spark of inspiration slammed into her. Naruto could have all the choice that he and Hinata would want, including whether or not to invoke the CRA, thanks to the Uzumaki autonomy clause. If Naruto became a chunin, he would be a legal adult, and thus as head of the Uzumaki clan, no decisions could be forced upon him by the council. There were only three clans with that autonomy, it was a basic thing in History, covered in the founding of Konoha. The Senju and the Uchiha were the ones that everyone remembered... but the Uzumaki name was on that treaty too.

Quickly she grabbed Naruto's shadow clone before it could disperse. "Wait, tell this to Naruto..."

* * *

Outside the genuine room 301, Naruto paused with a grunt as his clone dispersed and he absorbed all the information she'd given it. Looking up into the concerned faces of his team-mates (Hinata was definitely concerned, and he was assuming Shino was) he smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Remind me later to thank Sakura, Hinata-hime," he said. "She messed up a little, and then she tried to fix it. We don't have a choice now. If we don't make chunin, we lose our freedom and future." Grimly he held out one hand. "Team Eight: Chunin or bust!"

As his friends laid their hands on his, echoing his words, Naruto's smile now reached his eyes, and a hint of the younger, mischievous Naruto shone through. "Let's show 'em how it's done."

With that, they opened the door and stepped through.


	10. Seal 10: Advance

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Why does wisdom so often sound like madness?

**Tenth Seal: Advance.**

Kakashi looked up as Kurenai entered the room, a nervous Iruka behind her. After assisting with the 'condolence gift' for Ibiki, which consisted of a number of flowers that could be distilled to poisons and other drugs useful to a Torture and Interrogation specialist, Anko had left to get in place for her 'big entrance'. As she sat down she looked at the odds and bets scrawled on the blackboard at the end of the room.

"I thought it was my job to be late," Kakashi said quietly as Kurenai got out her coin purse.

Shaking her head, the red-eyed kunoichi replied. "Had to arrange for a condolence basket for Ibiki. The odds on my team passing any of the exams look slim."

The one-eyed jonin nodded. "Only a few people really know what he can do, and a lot of them have never seen Hinata as anything but weak. I've put a bit of money on both teams."

"So I see, my eternal rival," Gai said over Kakashi's shoulder as he sat on the other side of the copy-ninja. "Sasuke to reach the finals, but not make chunin. Isn't that a little unyouthful?"

Kakashi shook his head as Asuma took a seat next to Kurenai, and Shinshi sat beyond him. "Sasuke has the skills to be chunin, but he lacks the necessary attitude and maturity. He's too obsessed with revenge or his clan, and tunnel vision isn't a good trait in a ninja."

Kurenai called out her bet. "Fifty ryo that Team Eight makes chunin!" Silence reigned as the odds were furiously calculated and put up, and others began scrambling to cover the bet. As she sat down, she noticed the lack of clan heads in the room. "Hiashi said someone called for a CRA invocation, that must be why the clan heads aren't here," she muttered. "Any more on that?"

Asuma shook his head, but Shinshi spoke up. "Councillor Haruno brought it up," he said. "She apparently 'found' a reference to the Uzumaki clan, and realised that with only one member alive, the CRA 'had' to be enacted for the boy in the interests of 'Konoha', which means whoever the council can convince to bribe them."

"Aren't you a little cynical for your age?" Gai asked the youngest Gentleman. "Shouldn't you have a youthfully optimistic outlook as life decrees?"

Shinshi stared at the spandex clad ninja. "That _was_ being optimistic," he deadpanned.

* * *

The room Naruto and his team found themselves in was heavily crowded, and as the other teams entered behind them, the doors closed. There were ninja from everywhere, but Naruto watched for those with a Konoha hitai-ate first. There were eight such teams nominated, he knew, and he could see all of them here, including his own, Sasuke's and Lee's teams. As they stood there, and killing intent began to rise and flow towards them, he saw Team Ten approaching. Chouji looked no different than his usual self, nor was Ino changed, but Shikamaru looked like someone had really put him through a wringer... twice.

"Hey guys," Naruto called out as they approached. "What happened to you, Shikamaru?"

The laid-back boy groaned. "Remember how I said once that hating someone is too troublesome?" he asked, and Naruto nodded. "I've changed my mind. I really hate Shinshi-sensei."

Dragging the story from him would have been like pulling teeth, so Naruto turned to a far easier source of information... Ino. "Shinshi-sensei decided that Asuma-sensei's training regime wasn't really pushing us very hard, so he increased it a bit, had us multitasking, more physical training and sparring, a few extra jutsu each so we weren't relying on our clans' techniques all the time, that sort of thing," she told him. "Then of course Shikamaru says it's all a drag and troublesome, and he'd rather just play shogi with Asuma. So Shinshi-sensei says 'Go ahead, play shogi... but you have to do everything else at the same time and you can't look at the board'. It took Shikamaru a few tries to start winning at shogi again, and he's been kind of upset with Shinshi-sensei ever since."

Hinata spoke quietly, but her stutter was a thing of the past now. "You seem to like him, Ino," she said, curious despite herself.

Ino giggled. "I'm not crushing on him or anything, but Shinshi-sensei has this... cool and villainous air about him. He said I wasn't active enough, and that I looked hungry. I told him I was on a diet, and he insisted I write it out for him. He looked it over and handed me a different one. When I complained about what it would do to my figure he just... smirked... and I felt this chill, and he said I'd just have to do more physical activity to keep my looks." She sighed, and not in a girlish, love-struck way. If anything she seemed exasperated. "He's all about results and methods. It's like he has a goal in mind for us, and if we fall over before we get there, he'll just prop us back up and tell us to keep going."

Chouji grunted as he put a chip in his mouth. "He's effective though."

Looking around, Naruto realised all twelve of Konoha's 'rookie' teams, those who were new to the Exams, were right there by the door, and attracting unwelcome attention from the other teams. A white-haired young man, around twenty if Naruto were any judge, slinked closer.

"Can you guys please not attract too much attention," he muttered. "I barely got through my first six tries at this, and I'd like to survive my seventh."

There was something familiar about him. He wore the Konoha hitai-ate, and a pair of glasses, but it wasn't his appearance that was nagging at Naruto. He was certain he'd remember in time, but did they have time? This stranger was still speaking, though.

"My name is Yakushi Kabuto," he finished up, even as Kiba took the bait.

"Six times, huh?" he whistled, which seemed to annoy the other shinobi. "Bet you know a lot about the Exams, then." His fishing for information was obvious, and the white-haired man smirked.

"Of course, I have no way of knowing how they're being judged this time, but I have acquired information on all the other contestants at this time," he mentioned. "I keep it all encoded on these handy ninja cards, and it requires my chakra to access it."

As he brought out the cards, Naruto leaned over to Shino. "How long does the chakra retain its signature when your kikaichu eat it?" he whispered. Shino placed two fingers against his left bicep. About twenty minutes, then. Naruto's eyes narrowed.

Sasuke was asking for information... well, asking would be the polite lie, he was more demanding it. "Tell me what you know about that one over there," he pointed at the redhead from Suna, "as well as Neji Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki."

"Oh, you make this too easy," Kabuto said as he set out his cards... and Naruto slashed his claws through them, retracting them swiftly enough that no-one... except those who knew he had them... could be sure what they'd seen. Even the startled Kabuto was looking at his shredded cards. That was years of work, gone in a second. He turned to the orange clad boy. "What did you do that for?" he snapped.

Naruto stared at him. It was his smell, he decided. This man smelled familiar, but from where? "If you think bringing those cards out in a room with so many ninja was a good idea, I can see why you failed six times. If any one of these ninja can siphon off your chakra, that information would be stolen. I'd like to know my enemies, too, but not at the cost of them knowing me." He turned back towards Shino and Hinata as the older shinobi stood, and began talking with them. Once the attention in the room had drifted away from him, he slid his hand from his pocket... revealing Kabuto's cards...

Hinata smiled, and Shino nodded. The kikaichu he'd seeded the other man with would keep tabs on his location, and deliver his chakra when they needed it.

* * *

When the cloud of smoke burst at the front of the room, a massive room now that Naruto thought about it, but still somewhat small for the large numbers of shinobi who had to be taking the examination, it revealed Morino Ibiki. The heavily scarred jonin wasted no time. "Each of you has been assigned a seating number, so I suggest you find your seat," he spoke resonantly, his voice cutting through any speaking taking place. As they did so, the genin took note that they were separated from their team-mates. "Now for the basic rules. Each of you has ten points. You lose two points if you are caught cheating. Zero points means you and your team fail. There are nine questions on each sheet. Getting an answer wrong loses you one point. At the end of the test, we reveal the tenth question. You have forty-five minutes. Begin!"

* * *

Naruto knew something was up. He couldn't put his finger on exactly what, but nevertheless, it was a good idea to be prepared. The questions on this test were incredibly advanced, he noted, almost too difficult for even chunin who'd failed to study hard enough. The point deduction for cheating was annoying... but, wait, it was for getting _caught_ cheating, not the cheating itself, he realised. They wanted them to gather information, and that was Team Eight's speciality. A glance at Hinata told him she was using her Byakugan surreptitiously, and copying the answers of an accurate source... Haruno Sakura... so he listened for the way her pen sounded as she wrote. Shino had his kikaichu transmitting information in teams, tiny bugs that no-one noticed. Sasuke's sharingan allowed him something similar, and Naruto didn't doubt that others had their own methods to acquire the information. As the time slipped by, the deputy proctors began calling out numbers instead of simply tallying marks on their clipboards, removing those ninja who were insufficiently subtle.

One of the Suna ninja, Kankuro if he recalled correctly, raised his hand ad requested to use the bathroom, and was informed a proctor would accompany him. As he and the proctor who volunteered slipped past Naruto, he noticed that the proctor had no scent, and grinned. Did no-one think to count the proctors? Or was this simply one of the first four times he might have been caught and still remained?

By the time Kankuro had finished his business and returned, Ibiki had called the time. The test had only eliminated a handful of teams, there were still way too many. Hopefully the tenth question would bring the numbers down.

"Alright, then," he said, seizing the attention of the entire room. "Before we reveal the tenth question, you have a few more rules to learn. First, you can decline to hear the tenth question, at which point you and your entire team will score zero points and fail." There was a minor outburst at this. "Second," he continued, cutting through the noise, "if you do take the tenth question and get it wrong, you and your entire team not only fail, but you will be removed from duty as active shinobi, and banned from becoming such again." Shino saw his team-mates' eyes harden at that. They had no choice, and had to reach promotion, so they would push forwards regardless... so he would too.

As a few teams' nerves broke, they retreated from the room. The trickle gradually peeled away the numbers in the massive room, Until finally, no more than ninety shinobi remained in their seats. It could have been fewer, though, as Ibiki began speaking. "Excellent," he said, "those of you remaining here have chosen to go on knowing the consequences of failure, into an unknown situation. Seeded plants, you may withdraw." The equivalent of five teams of shinobi stood and waved at the proctors, and left the room. "Those of you remaining... pass."

Puzzled looks sprang up all over the room as Sakura asked the question on most of their minds. "But... what about the tenth question?"

Ibiki smiled evilly. "You already answered that," he said. The smile looked somewhat... no, downright sadistic on his face as he removed the bandana that obscured his scalp. The scars that liberally criss-crossed his scalp were a testament to the fortitude this man possessed. "As shinobi, you do not always have the luxury of knowing what you're getting into, but sometimes you will know that death, or a worse fate, are waiting for you if you fail. A shinobi doesn't get to pick and choose their missions, and those who would retreat rather than take their mission are worth nothing as ninja. Now..."

The window shattered as a bundled figure smashed through it, hurling kunai attached to the corners of a banner into the ceiling and floor. As the pretty woman struck her pose, another kunai in hand, the writing on the banner proclaimed her to be Mitarashi Anko, Proctor for the second exam. She wore a trenchcoat, a miniskirt and a lot of netting, besides her Konoha hitai-ate, and she called out as she stood there. "Tremble now, little genin, the second exam is nowhere near as sedate..." She paused, quickly counting, and whispered to Ibiki. "You're slipping, there's far too many of them. I guess I'll have to clean up for you... again." She turned to the staring genin as she began yelling once more. "All right you worms, you might actually make chunin... or at least survive the next exam. Follow me to training ground forty-four!" With that, she leaped from the window, leading the headlong rush towards the zone nicknamed the Forest of Death...

As Ibiki began picking up the test papers, Naruto cleared his throat. He and his team-mates stood before the Torture and Interrogation specialist, and they laid out the ninja information cards that Naruto had pilfered from Kabuto. Shino's kikaichu crawled on the cards, injecting them with the white-haired ninja's stolen chakra, causing the cards to bring out all their information.

Naruto spoke quickly, before Ibiki could. "Morino-sama," he said, smiling, "I think you should keep an eye on Yakushi Kabuto... No-one who failed that many times is that confident, and he seemed quite eager to share this information with the entire room... which would have included details about active duty Konoha shinobi. The cards require _his_ chakra to activate, but that's no challenge for an Aburame to acquire." As the three genin turned to leave, Ibiki cleared his throat.

"I'll have this checked out," he said. "But two questions before you go. First, what raised your suspicions?"

Naruto shrugged. "I've never seen his face before, but he smells familiar. Given the way my past has gone, that's not a good thing. If I remember more, I'll let you know."

"Second question. How did the rest of the genin not notice you staying behind, especially in those orange outfits, that two of you are wearing?"

It was Hinata's turn to answer, before they hurried to catch up with the other genin. "Morino-sama, what colour is a tiger?"

* * *

The fence was at least twenty feet tall around Training Ground Forty-four. The very dangerous nature of the place made it one of Anko's favourite places in the world, despite the nickname, Forest of Death. As she explained this to the gathered genin, she spotted one of them, that Uzumaki Naruto that Kurenai spoke so well of, staring into the forest instead of paying attention.

A hurled kunai, intended to wake him up was deflected over his shoulder with a negligent slap, where it landed close to a group of ninja from Kusagakure. Naruto, however, inhaled deeply. "Hinata-chan," he said slowly as the Hyuuga girl glared at the proctor.

"Hai?" she replied, without pausing in her glaring.

"I like this place," he said. "It's... honest. Forest of Death. It's not hiding, it just is." He turned towards the jonin with purple hair. "You were saying?"

Anko assessed the boy. He _had_ been paying attention, she now realised. He was just paying attention to more than just her speech. "The second exam is a survival mission, with a twist," she announced, "in that each team will be issued a scroll, marked as an Earth or Heaven Scroll. You will have five days to reach the tower within this training ground, against everything the Forest of Death can throw at you. However, it's not that simple. You have a couple of rules to follow if you want to succeed. First: you may not open the scrolls. You will not like what happens if you do, and then you will fail the test as well. Second: You cannot enter the tower unless you meet three conditions. You must get there within the five days, with both an Earth _and_ a Heaven Scroll. You must have a full team, if one of you dies, then you fail. Other than that, have fun." She pointed to a number of tables with paperwork stacked on them. "Before you receive your scrolls in those covered booths over there, you have to fill out those waivers. They acknowledge that you are entering this test of your own free will, and that no-one can hold it against us if you die or something. You hand in three waivers, and you get one scroll. After that, I'll see you later."

Team Eight were the first team to grab their waivers and trade them in. Inside the covered booth, they received a Heaven scroll, and as they emerged they saw the purple-haired jonin frozen on the spot as she spoke curtly with a Grass-nin with an excessively long tongue... that was apparently prehensile, by the kunai she was delivering to the proctor. The genin glanced at their gate number, and raced to get there.

* * *

Inside the forest, Team Eight was more or less in their element. Between Naruto's ability to follow scents and Hinata's Byakugan, they could avoid most of the predators that would be a problem, and Shino's Kikaichu could scout on a level beyond what most could manage. Not even Naruto's shadow clones could match the numbers Shino had in his colony. Together, they began to set their plans...

* * *

By unspoken agreement, the Konoha teams were avoiding each other as targets. Team Nine had the good fortune to encounter an unlucky band of Amegakure ninja with a Heaven Scroll, before the Rain nin could set an ambush or battle plan. They then began a run for the tower, although Lee insisted they take some time to see how Sakura's team was managing...

* * *

Ino stepped back out of her target's mind. "They have an Earth Scroll," she told Shikamaru.

"Gah," he grunted. "Even with all the training Shinshi-sensei put us through, getting the right scroll is going to be such a drag... Chouji, can you make them go away?"

"BUBUN KAKUDAI NO JUTSU!" The Akamichi's arm suddenly became massive as Shikamaru jumped away, and the Kiri ninja stumbled as the Nara released them a fraction of a second before Chouji's arm hit, launching them out into the forest.

Ino held her hand above her eyes as she watched the other team disappear into the trees. "Okay, let's find another ambush to bust then, shall we?"

* * *

Kabuto glared at his team-mates. They were fools, but they were what he had. They and their 'sensei' were actually deep-cover agents, recruited by him for his master. The white-haired ninja was a little bothered by the loss of his cards. He'd been quite impressed by the skill it took to switch the cards he'd made for regular playing cards before Uzumaki destroyed them. There had only been two ninja close enough to manage the trick, and that Naruto... despite the rumours, Kabuto was certain the brat's only real talents lay in refusing to die when he should, and sl;eight-of-hand. Looking back at the hapless Takigakure team his companions had slaughtered for their scroll, he smiled. "I'm going to check on something," he called out. "I'll meet you at the tower in a few days."

* * *

Naruto stared down from his hiding place at the clearing filled with sand, blood and bodies. A quick glance to Hinata followed by her nod, and he knew she'd seen the same thing too. None of the Suna ninja had so much as lifted a finger against this Rain team. They didn't have to. Gaara's sand had done all the work, and the Rain ninja had died in a horrible way: buried alive and crushed by the sand. Gaara glared at the scroll they found...

"Earth, useless," he growled, and looked at the bodies as he threw the scroll aside. "Mother says they were not enough. She needs more blood... Come along."

To the hidden eyes of Team Eight, it seemed even Gaara's family was terrified of him...

Unnoticed, a swarm of Shino's insects recovered the scroll.

* * *

It was not his day, thought Kiba as he leaped, ran, dodged a giant snake, leaped some more, sprang from tree to tree and dodged the giant snake _again_. The rock he and Akamaru had answered nature's call on had turned out to be a massive snake... one that was not happy with how they'd woken it up, to say the least. He'd been running for the past ten minutes, and his stamina was starting to flag, and his sandal slipped as he hit the branch, toppling forwards while his partner fell back... into the snake's mouth.

Kiba's wordless howl of despair rang out through the trees, and he shut his eyes as the snake closed its jaws... which was a real pity, as he missed the two orange blurs that skipped through the branches, one slamming both her feet against the under side of the very branch he'd just fallen from as Hinata caught him before he fell very far, swinging him to the next branch down where Shino was waiting to catch him, as the other blur sprang into the very mouth of the giant snake to gather up the small white dog.

Naruto's wardrobe had needed some redesign after the mission to Nami no Kuni, and Kujaku Dansei had been quite proud of the outfit Naruto now wore, with the flaps and panels over the areas where Naruto could most easily manipulate his bones into protrusions: knees, elbows, shoulders, shoulder blades and a whole series along his spine. As the orange clad shinobi caught the ninja hound, preventing the small canine becoming an appetiser, he also pushed his chakra into those areas, and the bonemetal spikes and blades emerged, driving into the soft tissues of the snake's mouth, convincing it that this meal wasn't worth the trouble. As the oversized serpent re-opened its mouth, Naruto lashed out with his right hand, his claws extending, feeding his chakra into them to extend their reach and sharpness, and the claws broke through the snake's brain... whereupon the summoned creature vanished with a pop and a puff of smoke. Pulling in his spikes, Naruto hastily made a hand-sign, and several of his shadow clones caught him, throwing him to the branch where his team waited with Kiba.

"Kiba-san," Shino spoke quickly once the boy was reunited with his best friend, where's your team? Surely you three didn't split up."

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura glared at the Grass ninja as she stood there, her head at a slight angle. The fact that Kiba hadn't returned had the two worried, but Sakura had taken it as a godsend, and was discussing the limitations of the CRA with Sasuke, a subject he'd had little interest in until she told him of the lack of choice he'd have, until the stranger had entered their camp site. Now they stood ready to fight, but the sheer killing intent radiating from the other ninja had paralysed them. As things stood they were in trouble. This ninja was too much for them.

Sasuke pulled their Heaven Scroll from his equipment pouch, and held it up. "This is what you want, isn't it? I can tell when we're over-matched, it's yours if you let us go."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sasuke was giving up? "What are you doing, Sasuke?" she whispered. "We can't advance without that."

Sasuke spat to one side. "For such an intelligent girl, you can sure say stupid things," he growled. "We can't advance if we're dead, either, and there are other scrolls out there."

"Indeed," the other ninja said, stepping closer. "Like this one." She held up an Earth Scroll and continued to approach. "Not that I care, since my team is dead."

Sakura's eyes widened. "How... what happened to them?"

The Grass ninja shrugged. "They were in my way, so I killed them just to enjoy their screams. But even those were disappointing. Now I have you right where I want you..."

The fuuma shuriken that drove into the ground in front of the other ninja stopped her advance. Standing on the branches of the trees at the south end of the clearing were Team Eight, Kiba and Akamaru who was happily barking at the two Konoha genin.

Naruto spoke up. "I'd be careful about him, Sasuke, that guy smells of blood and snakes," he called out. "I'd trust him as far as I could spit him... and there's nothing that would convince me to put anything of Orochimaru's anywhere near my mouth."

The grass ninja began laughing with a mad intensity. "So the little experiment lived, after all. I was wondering if it was you, boy." With an even more sudden focus, the ninja's hands flickered to begin a summoning, as the Earth Scroll he held was flicked up to spin in the air, obviously intended to land back in the summoner's hand once he'd finished... but that wasn't what happened. As the scroll began its upward arc, the fuuma shuriken popped revealing itself to be a transformed shadow clone, who then sprang upward and drove a spiky knee into the face of the ninja before him, snatching the scroll from the air as he did, and hurling it to Sasuke before dispersing. The blood pouring from the victim's face obscured their vision as the clone vanished, and Naruto's cry of "Plan six: RTFA!" was followed by a number of shadow clones dog-piling the target ninja as the six genin fled.

They were not expecting the sound of tearing flesh behind them, nor did they dream that the infamous missing-nin was capable of stretching his neck so far, biting into the muscle of Sasuke's shoulder and injecting something there. As the head fell back and away, and Naruto's shadow clones began to disperse at a prodigious rate, Orochimaru laughed. "Should you live, Sasuke, you will need power for your vengeance... come to me and I can give it to you..."

Naruto and Kiba caught hold of Sasuke before he could fall as the Uchiha passed out, and all five conscious genin pushed themselves hard to reach the tower before something worse happened.

* * *

Reaching the tower was easier said than done, with a number of other teams lying in ambush, and the two teams were forced to take refuge in a massive hollowed tree. Laying Sasuke's fevered form down, they inspected the injury that the Snake-master had inflicted. There was a bite-mark, two half-circles of teeth had driven through the skin, and inside those marks were three comma-like marks arrayed against each other in a circular pattern. The skin about them was reddened, and black veins seemed to carry the taint of the mark deeper into Sasuke's body.

"That's... not good," Naruto said. "I know some basic sealing, but this thing is so far beyond what I know they're not even related." Hinata's use of her Byakugan had revealed the mark was forcing some kind of black chakra, a negative chakra, into Sasuke's system. By sealing some of his tenketsu around it, she'd slowed the advance, but things were definitely bad.

It was to the scene of Sasuke's unconscious form that the other two Konoha Teams reached this clearing. Each had managed to acquire the scrolls they needed, and all they needed to do was get to the tower... but that would not be as easy as it looked.

* * *

Kabuto reached the tree above the clearing. Taking note of the numbers, he shook his head. Too many for Otogakure no Sato's official team, he decided. A pity, he'd have loved to see what that curse-mark did to Sasuke...


	11. Seal 11: Conquer

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Of course I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?

**Eleventh Seal: Conquer.**

A plan for reaching the tower was quickly sketched out, even as Sasuke groaned, his fevered sleep troubled with the pain of the tainted chakra. Neji was against the plan to begin with.

"If he is fated to live, he will. Otherwise, he will slow us down, as weak as he is," he stated. Naruto glared at his fiancee's cousin, but Hinata's hand on his arm kept him from losing his temper.

"Then don't help, Neji-nii-san," she replied. "But since your team is going that way anyway, we will all go with you. If your defending yourself happens to benefit us, then I guess your precious 'fate' doesn't govern what we do, does it?"

Neji had no answer for that, and settled into a grumpy silence.

* * *

"Alright," Shino said, as he and Shikamaru rose from where they'd laid out the plan to the others. "Does anyone have any thoughts on the plan?"

Looking around at the other Konoha rookies, he saw no objections, and nodded. The speed with which Shikamaru had laid out a plan once Naruto asked for one pointed to him considering a similar scenario at some point, and such forethought almost guaranteed the young man's rise to chunin at some not-too-distant time, even if he didn't manage it here at these Exams. Shikamaru had been somewhat lazy, very much a boy to go for 'least effort for most effect', until this Shinshi-sensei had gotten hold of Team Ten's training. Now he actually had greater endurance and chakra reserves that he could bring to bear, not an insignificant thing for his family's techniques.

Team Nine's role was vanguard. With such hitters as Neji and Lee, and Tenten's skill with storage scrolls and weapons, which her adoptive father, Yanagi Jobu, had been teaching her for years before the Academy, they made an effective forward strike force, intended to clear the path.

Team Ten was to provide close support for Team Seven, with Chouji carrying the unconscious Sasuke as both Teams made their run. With both Sakura and Ino looking out for him, Sasuke could not be in more protective hands... although Shikamaru idly pondered who was going to protect the Uchiha boy from _them_.

Finally, Team Eight had a sort of rearguard position. Not only did they have to cover the back of the other teams, but they were the decoys, meant to attract the attention of anyone who came after the 'weakest' genin. Strangely, that last twist was suggested by Naruto, a minor touch compared to the overall plan, but it was an idea that had merit in Shikamaru's eyes, so it had to be a good one.

* * *

The other Teams had barely left the clearing, with a surreptitious escort of a few shadow clones, when the first challenge to the plan occurred, as three ninja wearing hitai-ate bearing the emblem of a crescent moon, the sign of Yorugakure no Sato... the Village Hidden in the Night, entered the clearing. As the two opposing teams stood and stared at each other, the Yoru ninja began to grin, feral grins that bore little resemblance to the smiles of amusement most people gave, and seemed more suited to hunting animals who've found their prey.

High in the tree, Kabuto sat up. So many little dramas, so much variety to choose from, and this eventuated. He was sure the Otogakure team would have confronted the Konoha ninja by now, but they were apparently too busy elsewhere, but here... here he got to see the capabilities of this Team Eight of Konoha, Team Kurenai if they made chunin together, unless she went for a different name, _and_ he got to assess the totally unknown techniques of what may have been the most secretive of the shinobi villages, the oldest existing village, barely younger than the lost Uzushiogakure no Sato. Closer attention was merited...

The strangers didn't speak, Hinata noticed. Instead, they merely set themselves ready to fight, and charged. As they did, their bodies... shifted... just a little, becoming more animalistic, taking on features of animals here and there. The one that rushed the Hyuuga in the Uzumaki jacket seemed to be melded, if that was the right term, with a rabbit of all things. Hinata activated her Byakugan and saw the chakra condensing in the opposing kunoichi's legs. It would be a good idea to avoid the kicks, then...

Shino's foe had horns, two of them, appear along his nose as his skin greyed and thickened, his charge becoming vicious and almost unstoppable. Raising his staff and extending it from its collapsed and portable form, he braced. This would need some time...

Naruto's foe on the other hand... that was trickier. His hair had been replaced by feathers, his eyes became a solid black, and wings emerged from his back as his feet left the ground in more of a swoop than a charge, and the two ninja-to he raised were aimed straight at the Konoha jinchuuriki...

The deep-cover spy certainly hadn't been expecting _this_. Orochimaru had dabbled in this branch of research at one time, with no real success due to the burnout its subjects suffered, before deeming it inferior and discarding it. Now it looked like someone had perfected it. This was worth noting... Kabuto took out a scroll and started taking notes very quickly...

As Hinata ducked beneath another kick, her opponent lifted her other foot from the ground and it swept past Hinata's face as she leaned back _just_ barely enough for it to miss, her fringe and bangs flying up in the passing foot's slipstream, even as the rabbit-girl cartwheeled to land on her feet. Seeing the first opening she'd had this fight, the young Hyuuga darted in, melding wind and water chakra into her Gentle Fist, producing something like a storm in her opponent's tenketsu... a Gentle Storm, that sounded like a good name... The wind element caused actual damage to the chakra coils, while the water element allowed the Gentle Fist impact to 'shock-wave' out from the point of impact, shutting down multiple tenketsu at once. Struck in the lower back, the Yoru kunoichi lost the centre of her chakra network right away, and her animal features disappeared as she collapsed, unable to move her legs...

Naruto's usual techniques wouldn't work on this enemy, and he knew it. He could try bombarding the hawk-man with shadow clones, but with those wings, the other ninja could change direction in mid-air, and Naruto's clones couldn't... not easily. There was only one moment he could strike his foe... at the very moment his foe struck him... Extending his claws, Naruto began to channel chakra to his ears... His sense of smell was of no help here, Hinata and Shino had their own problems, and to top it all off, his passenger chose this moment to start making a ruckus...

"**Whiskers, brat!**" the Kyuubi was shouting as Naruto tried to focus. "**Cats and Foxes have them for a reason! You have to feel him with your whiskers!**" Naruto managed to push the fox's voice down beyond his awareness, but something rang true... Expanding his chakra a little, he fed it into his whisker marks as well... As they flared blue and grew, he felt something... the wind? No... motions that shifted the wind. A fox or cat used its whiskers to tell how far away something was, to help with balance, or to shift in confined spaces. Combined with his hearing, Naruto had a chance... just one, because once his opponent knew about this trick, he'd compensate for it, and Naruto would lose. His only advantage now lay in surprise...

Shino stared at his now unconscious foe as he discarded his shattered staff. That had been too close, he felt. His staff had broken just as his kikaichu had managed to take his enemy down from chakra exhaustion, a very close thing. His insects were now gorged on the chakra, and would be of little help until they'd slept it off, or discharged it in another manner. He turned towards the others as Hinata took out her opponent, and saw Naruto's whisker-marks glow, and then very nearly shine, as he poured chakra into them...

It was over in a split-second, but for that split-second Hinata's heart was in her throat, her Byakugan, still active, allowing her to see the whole thing with absolute clarity. The hawk-ninja swooped in, too fast for Shino to follow, his blades aimed at Naruto's back, and Hinata could do nothing but stand there, screaming her beloved's name...

Naruto felt the movement, he knew the direction, he pushed the distraction of his love's scream away so he could live and manage to come back to her... He turned in an instant, stabbing out with his claws and twisting his arms outward, even as he poured chakra into the bones of his skull, plating and studding his forehead with bonemetal, and a layer of chakra cushioning his brain. The blades his foe had in front of him were swept aside by Naruto's claws, the cheap metal breaking as they twisted, carrying the hawk-ninja's arms with them, and the blond shinobi swung his head against his opponent's, impacting square on his foe's hitai-ate... Naruto had been wearing his hiatai-ate around his neck of late, much like Hinata did, and his bonemetal brow was far stronger any way. There was a horrendous sickening crunch as the swooping hawk-man collided with the young genin, and both crashed to the ground, rolling and tumbling across the clearing, bleeding off the inertia and momentum of the collision before halting in a heap. Hinata was the first there, her Byakugan shutting off in a sub-conscious choice to avoid seeing the worst for as long as possible, and Shino joined her at the tangled pile of limbs as the hawk features faded from the Yoru ninja.

That one was dead, she could see. Not only did his neck loll at a most unnatural angle, she knew that the forehead was supposed to curve _outwards_. His didn't, and his hitai-ate was embedded in the brow as well. Using branches, they forced the body off their team-mate.

Naruto's eyes were unfocused, and his neck and back were sore, although the pain was rapidly retreating. There was a red mark on his forehead once the bonemetal had retreated, and he looked up. "Am I dead, and in Heaven?" he asked, very confused.

"No!" a worried Hinata replied, "Why would you think that?"

"Because I see three Hinata's, and if even one's not Heaven, I don't want to go," the blue-eyed jinchuuriki answered with a goofy smile.

* * *

After that fight, they decided to waste no time, and quickly set off in pursuit of their fellow Konoha rookies. In the tree far above, Kabuto stood, putting away the scroll with so much written on it. "_It seems that Orochimaru-sama was correct about the kemonohito inferiority,_" he mused silently. "_Beast-people seem to rely more on instinct than intellect. But that Uzumaki... That most certainly wasn't the Dead Bone Pulse, but it was close to it. Did that experiment work, after all? What else happened though? That thing with his whisker-marks... the speed he recovered at... those bones looked like metal, too. Did we awaken a _new_kekkei genkai in the boy? Either way, it looks like we discarded him too soon... I think I'll drop out after this round. I won't be very useful if I'm dead._"

* * *

The atrium of the tower was empty, and the poetic advice inscribed on the wall was an obscure reference to training methods. Shino managed to put the clues together and opened their scrolls, each team having kept their Heaven and Earth Scrolls to bring here. Naruto was sitting propped against a pillar, still a bit concussed, although he was getting better so fast it was almost miraculous. Five minutes more, tops, and he'd be fine.

As the scrolls poured out smoke, their sensei appeared before them, smiling broadly. Kurenai had heard from the other teams as they arrived about the events in the forest, although her team had obviously had a little more trouble afterwards... but that was what they had been the decoys for. The hard job, the one the other teams were not as suited for. "Welcome to the tower, Team Eight," she said, pride evident in her tone. "Congratulations on passing the second exam." Her eyes travelled over her students, assessing their injuries, and attempting to divine their mental state. "Before anything else, your friends made it in plenty of time, and Kakashi has called on someone far more experienced with Seals than he to deal with Sasuke's... affliction. There's someone else in a similar situation to Sasuke who can provide some counselling, but we can't be certain he'll be okay at this point." She waved for them to follow her. "Now, you've been out there for two and a half days, so I think you'll all want to get clean, fed and rested. There's a three person room set aside for each team in this tower, so you have somewhere to rest up as you wait."

* * *

The room was comfortable enough, and the three genin greeted the other Konoha rookies. As other nation's teams were present, there were no vast displays of boisterousness, and the information they handed around was low-level gossip at most. Ino and Sakura were both worried about Sasuke, when they weren't quietly hissing at each other over who loved him more, and their friends looked out for them. When the Suna team showed up, they didn't approach, although Gaara did stare somewhat obsessively, almost hungrily at Naruto.

The teams that made it in over the next two days were mostly foreign. Kumo's team, the inverted squad consisting of a young man named Ginkumo Kura, and two girls, the Nusuma sisters as they were called, Fukuro and Suzume, despite their looking nothing alike, with their sensei, a dark-skinned man answering to Sagi Giso, were polite, although the genin of the team paid closer attention to Hinata and Neji than any others. It was possible that Kumogakure's first official representatives to enter Konoha in a decade were nervous about the Hyuuga incident from so long ago, but that answer didn't feel right. The Iwa team were much more easy to explain, even if their famous sensei kept watching Naruto for some reason. That ruby eye gave him the creeps. The genin were a different matter.

Kyoreki Koshi and Tamaishi Tobu were of a type, both were obviously heavy hitters who could hold their own, with thickly muscled bodies. Their team-mate however, resembled a marble statue more than a little, a delicate one that belonged in some noble's hall, rather than a kunoichi. Still, there was that adage about books and their covers, and judging them thereby...

The fourth foreign team was from a smaller, newly established Hidden Village, Otogakure no Sato, and consisted of a young man with enough bandages covering him to qualify as an emergency ward, another boy who kept his palms hidden, and a kunoichi with a large number of small pouches all over her clothes. All three kept to themselves, not giving out their names, and wore pants with a snake-skin pattern in blue.

The last team to arrive, barely ahead of the deadline, was another Konoha team, Kabuto's team to be precise, and all the genin teams were called to assemble in the atrium. There had been a lot of changes made to it, with a raised dais at one end before a massive statue of a shinobi performing a hand-sign. There was a raised balcony around the room, and it was here that the many sensei stood as their teams assembled below. Sasuke was there, the mark on his neck ringed by two circles of tiny seals so close together they could be mistaken for a single circle. His eyes were a little shadowed, from a lack of sleep, no doubt, and he gruffly muttered his thanks to Team Eight as he took his place.

On the dais stood the Hokage, as well as the sensei of the foreign teams and the proctors from the Chunin Exams. The unfamiliar proctor was a sickly looking man, but he still stood there, a Konoha ninja to be sure. Hiruzen stepped forward and began to speak.

"Congratulations to all of you here who have made it to the next stage of the exams, the little war that stands in place of actual war between the nations. It is here that our genin show what they can do, and the strength of their villages is represented in the third exam... single combat. As things..."

A cough from the third proctor interrupted the old man, and the the sickly ninja spoke. "Your pardon, Hokage-sama, but if you don't mind, I can take over from here."

As the Hokage stepped back, waving for the proctor to continue, the ninja coughed again. "My name is Gekkou Hayate cough and I am the proctor for the next stage of the Chunin Exams," he announced. "As things stand, cough there are too many candidates to undertake that next step, so we will be holding preliminary matches immediately, to determine who advances to the tournament stage in one month's time. The cough first thing I must ask is if any of you here wish to withdraw at this time."

Kabuto raised his hand. "Our efforts outside have depleted my chakra and stamina," he explained, even as Ibiki exchanged a glance with the Hokage, receiving a barely perceptible nod. "I have to formally withdraw." As he turned and walked away, he muttered to his companions. "You know what to do."

The proctor watched him leave and nodded. "Is there anyone else? Very well." He pointed to a large electronic display screen, a rarity anywhere, which might be a form of boasting should one choose to take it that way, a Great Hidden Village flaunting its wealth with such a thing. "If you will pay cough attention to the board, we will randomly select the cough opponents for the preliminaries."

As the board began to flicker, a name and picture appearing on each side and changing as they were randomised, Sasuke snorted in disbelief of the proctor's statement. Such match-ups were far too important to leave to chance. Then the two names appeared on the board...

* * *

**Hyuuga Hinata vs Kinuta Dosu.**

The other genin were instructed to leave the floor, and head up to the balcony, but Naruto took a few seconds to embrace his fiancee. "You can beat him Hinata-hime," he whispered into her ear. "But watch out, alright, when he moves his arms, my ears hurt..." With a quick kiss on her cheek, he went to stand by Kurenai and Shino.

The bandage-swathed Oto ninja stood before her, his arms dangling and his feet wide-set. "So, did your boyfriend say good-bye? Or is he going to join you in Hell?" the foreign ninja taunted.

"Actually," the soft-spoken kunoichi replied, "he was telling me to kick your-"

"Hajime!" called Hayate, his voice washing over Hinata's.

As Hinata's Byakugan roared to life, filling her senses with her surroundings, filing away Naruto's reactions and words for later, her opponent rushed forwards, his arms swinging, a faint whistling following as they moved... she could see the chakra flowing into his arms, collecting in the many-holed devices there, as clearly as she could see Naruto's wince as the noise reached him.

The only advantage she could see was that his moves seemed to require a build-up, a long sweeping strike. If he charged, as he'd done now, whatever attack he was planning would have that build-up and he could use a linear strike, but otherwise he would need round-house blows...

Dodging his first attack was the way to go, then, and after that stay in close quarters where the Gentle Fist techniques linear style would be faster than his return strike. But he seemed too confident, she noticed, her Byakugan relaying the sloppiness of his taijutsu style, as if he didn't care whether or not he hit... because he only needed to get close!

Dosu grinned beneath his bandages as the girl's eyes widened. She was obviously terrified by the speed and ferocity of his assault, not that he'd go easy on her for that. As he pulled his arms back to strike, she did... something... and a set of bracers and greaves hit the floor as she disappeared, only to suddenly be there in his face, with his arms out of position to block, a determined look on her face as both her own arms struck at his shoulders, palm first, calling out: "Gentle Storm: Chakra Shockwave!"

Indeed, that was exactly what it felt like, as his shoulders popped audibly with her strikes and a _wave_ of chakra rippled down his arms, blowing out his chakra network from the inside painfully, dispersing all his gathered chakra in a single burst with no way to control it... Dosu couldn't understand it... Just seconds ago she'd been terrified, he'd seen her eyes widen, how did this happen? His momentum redirected by her attack, his legs flying forward even as his torso stopped all forward motion, the Oto genin spotted, as he arced over, crashing head-first onto the stone tiled floor, the veins around her eyes... a Hyuuga! He'd been up against the cursed Byakugan!

His impact with the floor disrupted his awareness as he hit, a concussion at the least if he was any judge, the nausea felt about right for it, and any disorientation now was... His mind blanked out as the last thing he saw before falling into the darkness of sweet oblivion was a rapidly approaching palm.

Hinata watched her unconscious foe for a moment. She had pulled her blow before impact and the Gentle Storm strike she'd been working on had _still_ knocked her foe cold. She was certain that if she'd made contact it would not have gone so well for this Dosu.

Swallowing audibly, Gekkou Hayate then raised his right hand. "The winner, cough-cough Hyuuga Hinata!" Looking up at the balcony, all that Hinata could see, or care about was the broad smile of pride and joy on Naruto's face.

Kurenai smiled as she looked across to where Shinshi stood with Asuma and Team Ten. "Pick me up at seven, Asuma," she said, and the other jonin nodded blankly. Now she got her fancy dinner rather than going to that barbecue place, and Asuma would know better than to bet against her in matters involving _her_ team.

The board was flickering again revealing the next two to fight, and as she saw Hinata in Naruto's arms, speaking softly about whatever, she hoped they'd have some time before Naruto's fight.

* * *

**Yanagi Tenten vs Akimichi Chouji.**

Tenten and Chouji's match didn't take very long, as Chouji opted to use his Human Boulder technique from the start. Tenten, however, didn't hesitate, sending forth an array of kunai that were deflected by her fellow Konoha genin's spinning form. As Chouji advanced, she then threw another volley, this one of senbon, that littered the ground in front of him, stuck upright in the floor. The young Akimichi's own force and speed drove the paralytic-coated needles into his skin, and Chouji was done.

"Winner, cough Yanagi Tenten!" proclaimed Hayate, as the board began to select the next match.

* * *

**Abumi Zaku vs Nusuma Suzume.**

No sooner had the cough-ridden proctor called Hajime, tha Zaku raised hi arms, palm outwards, towards the Kumo kunoichi... whose hands were flickering through hand seals incredibly quickly, so quickly that only Kakashi and Sasuke could keep up with them. At first nothing seemed to happen as Suzume completed the last seal, but then Zaku's eyes widened, and he begam to unleash wind-blasts at something only he could see, hammering away at thin air as he stared and screamed, while Suzume calmly announced her technique. "Genjutsu technique: Hyaku Suzume no Jigoku." Calmly walking up to her now terrified foe, still striking blindly at things no-one else could see, Suzume jabbed a sleep-venom coated needle into his neck, and the Oto ninja was out like a light.

As Hayate called the winner, everyone reassessed the small, plain girl with mousy brown hair. With a genjutsu like _that_ under her belt, she was far, far more than she looked to be.

Again the board flickered, and the next to fight were revealed...

* * *

**Some notes on the names and some techniques:**

A number of characters in this chapter are what most consider OCs, although they do exist to fill a role in my story. To this end, I have given them names that I think appropriate.

From Kumo: Sagi Giso (Disguised Heron... aka Gentleman Crane, Tsuru Shikunshi), Ginkumo Kura (Silver-spider Arsenal), Nusma Suzume (Stolen Sparrow) and Nusuma Fukuro (Stolen Owl).

From Iwa: Ishiguma Daikenshi (Stone-bear Great-fist-of-death), Kyoreki Koshi (Boulder Stands), Tamaishi Tobu (Boulder Flies), Dairiseki Otome (Marble Maiden).

The alias a certain snake is hiding under at this point is Sawagi Hibiki (Noisy Noise).

Suzume's genjutsu is Hyaku Suzume no Jigoku (Hell of a million sparrows).

Some of these names actually hint at their roles in the story, and some at their abilities. Hope this is helpful. For the perfectionists, I got the translations of these names from Google Translate, and a little creative interpretation. For instance, just feeding Daikenshi into the translator gives you Large Province, but Dai (great) ken (fist) and shi (death) all fit together for the name.

Till the next seal is released, CuO.


	12. Seal 12: Confront

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. When the birds go to war against the fish, the only winners are the cats.

**Author's note:** These match-ups, and the ones for the tournament later, were indeed random, as I used scraps of paper and a bucket to assign them. Nice how they turned out, though, isn't it?

**Twelfth Seal: Confront.**

It was impossible. Fate was never this kind, as to grant this kind of heartfelt wish. Neji turned his attention to the Uchiha, and saw the smirk... and realised what had to have happened. Someone had heard of his encounter with this boy before the first exam, of the fight Lee had stopped, and set this up for the last loyal Uchiha. Again he returned his attention to the board and the match-up displayed there as he descended the stairs at the same deliberate pace as his opponent.

* * *

**Uchiha Sasuke vs Hyuuga Neji.**

Hayate glanced nervously at the Hokage, who nodded. This fight, no matter who won it, would upset the current balance of power in Konoha. If it fell towards the Uchiha, the civilian councillors would gain, and by further implication, the elder advisors... and Danzou. If Hyuuga Neji came out on top, Hiashi and the other shinobi clans would benefit. "Hajime!" he called.

It began with a series of rapid hand-signs by the Uchiha boy, as he attempted the genjutsu the Kumo kunoichi had so badly beaten her opponent with. But Neji's Byakugan easily penetrated the illusion, shattering Sasuke's technique. The sharingan was not precise enough to mimic the tenketsu-blocking effect of the Gentle Fist, and the elemental natures required for Gentle Storm were beyond the Uchiha... they were also beyond Neji, who was firmly earth-aspected in his affinity, not that he'd developed it. So Neji closed as Sasuke began to perform another jutsu...

Sasuke's Water Prison was a half-remembered technique, seen months ago and never practised. Even with his sharingan, Sasuke nearly didn't pull it off, but as the water was pulled out of thin air, he realised this was a bad technique for him... it had to have taken at least two-thirds of his remaining chakra to pull off with both his own natures opposed to it. Of course, it might have been worth it, with the overconfident Hyuuga inside the globe of water... Sasuke began to run through a new sequence, almost losing the Prison as he did... It was _hard_ to split your chakra control like that, and the globe of water rippled, even as the Uchiha boy manifested a needle of lightning chakra that he drove towards the globe...

Neji had been startled by the Water Prison, and had gasped, a good thing as it seemed, giving him lungs filled with air. He began to worry as Sasuke ran through the hand-seals to enact the Lightning Needle, but when the surface of the globe... and the chakra holding it in shape... rippled, he saw an opportunity. As the needle was thrust towards the Water Prison, Neji struck, his Gentle Fist strike punching through the weakened surface of the water and jabbing into the tenketsu on Sasuke's arm, dispersing the needle. A second strike, delivered as Sasuke lost control of the Water Prison, took away the other arm's channels, and Neji slid into the Eight Trigrams stance. Sasuke didn't stand a chance as Neji launched his attack. "Eight Trigrams, Sixty-four Palms!"

As an incapacitated Sasuke dropped to the floor, Neji turned away. "Even you, a mighty Uchiha, could not overcome Fate," he said, and took a step as Hayate called the winner...

The sudden surge of killing intent from the boy on the floor froze almost everyone in the room. As Neji looked back, he saw Sasuke forcing himself to his feet, and the Byakugan showed a black, negative chakra blowing open his tenketsu points... but the scary thing was his eyes. Sasuke's eyes were _still_ rolled back in his head, he was still unconscious! A shock of fear poured through Neji as he stood there, unable to move... and suddenly Kakashi was there, making a hand-seal that caused the second ring of seals around Sasuke's curse mark to flare, and the Uchiha heir collapsed.

The Copycat Ninja lifted his student over one shoulder. "I see we still need to work on containing it," he said. With a quick and awkward bow, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, as did the second proctor, the purple-haired kunoichi, as the board again flickered, distracting most witnesses from what had just happened.

Kabuto looked at the bodies strewn about him. He supposed he should be flattered, four ANBU just for him, but this meant something was wrong. He'd just have to cut his losses and take his current information back to Orochimaru. It was just a pity he'd have to wait to see how the little experiment had turned out...

* * *

**Gaara vs Tsuchi Kin.**

"Oh, hell, no! I forfeit!" The Oto kunoichi ignored the angry stare from the Suna redhead. "I am not facing that!"

Shrugging, the watchers turned their attention to the board again.

* * *

**Kankuro vs Kyoreki Koshi.**

The opening strikes of the match saw the muscular body of Koshi stock-still and immovable, as Kankuro dropped his bundle and rushed in, assaying a few strikes that were easily deflected before dropping his jaw, as if on a hinge, and spraying a purple mist into the surprised Iwa ninja's face, even as the impossibly strong counter-blow shattered 'Kankuro's' right arm, scattering chunks of wood about the room even as the 'bundle' that had been dropped earlier unravelled and stood, revealing the real Kankuro, and the one that had engaged the foe was just a puppet. Enraged, Koshi took one step... and toppled over.

"The purple mist is a paralytic toxin unique to Kaze no Kuni and Suna village," he told the Iwagakure shinobi as he held up a vial of silvery liquid. "This is the antidote. Without tihs, the toxin's effects run their course over a week... a painful one. I'm told it feels like fire-ants swarming you. Give up, and I'll be generous."

Koshi couldn't surrender fast enough.

* * *

**Aburame Shino vs Nara Shikamaru.**

As the two genin faced each other across the arena, Shikamaru sank into a crouch and put his fingers together. He just sat there for ten minutes. Not wishing to waste his own chakra, and respecting another strategist, Shino let him.

Eventually, Shikamaru stood and began to walk away. "I forfeit," he said back over his shoulder. "Maybe my shadows can pin you down, Shino, but there's too many of your kikaichu for me to keep track of, and once they get into my chakra, that's all she wrote. I don't have any jutsu for dealing with them."

Blinking, Ino spoke up... sort of. "Hwa?"

Shinshi shook his head as he explained to her. "Shikamaru's affinity is water, surprisingly. Fire jutsu, which would be the best option for dealing with Shino's insects, chew through too much of his chakra. While certain water jutsu might work, the effects of using them would likely cause his colony to revolt... the results aren't pretty. So Shikamaru took the chance to bow out gracefully." The Fourth Gentleman narrowed his eyes. "But he's not getting off that easily, a mind like that _deserves_ to be a chunin."

They turned their eyes to the next match-up. All around the atrium, jaws dropped, and a loud, energetic whoop sprang from both participants, who promptly leaped over the railings.

* * *

**Uzumaki Naruto vs Rock Lee.**

As the two Konoha ninja waited tensely for Hayate to call for the fight to begin, Gai appeared next to the Hokage. "If you will excuse me, Hokage-sama, perhaps we should move this gathering to the balcony?"

Raising an eyebrow, and receiving a serious faced nod, Hiruzen agreed. When Hayate called "Hajime!", the two genin moved, quick strikes to test their opponent's defences. They sprang back after a few blows, Lee shaking out his hands.

"Your body is quite sturdy, Naruto-san," Lee said, once more balling up his fists. "Your inner youth is quite impressive."

"You're pretty fast, Lee-san," Naruto replied, "but I can keep up if I push it a bit."

There was another blur of motion as Lee charged in sweeping a leg in a low feint that changed direction halfway, and powered towards the jinchuuriki's ribs. Naruto's reaction was to grip the leg as it struck, pinning the limb against his body, and Lee's other foot left the ground in a spiralling arc that caught Naruto on the crown of his skull with a loud and terrible crack, forcing him to release the spandex-clad young man who cartwheeled back and stopped, dropping to one knee.

The blond shook his head, and a little blood flew from his scalp. Hinata covered her mouth with both hands, her fingernails digging into her cheeks, but unwilling to look away. The jonin looked on, wondering what the crack had been caused by, as Gai stood by the railing. Naruto had taken that blow direct to his crown, from Lee's full strength kick, admittedly with his training weights on, actually _from_ the training weights themselves... and he was a little dizzy with a small scalp wound? What had _happened_? Was that sound from the boy's skull... or Lee's leg?

"Gai-sensei!" Lee called out, no pain evident in his voice, which set Gai's mind a little at ease as he turned. It was a pity about Naruto losing, but a head injury that cracked the skull was nothing to laugh at.

"What is it, Lee?" he called back.

"I am requesting permission to remove my weights, Gai-sensei," Lee replied. "Three on my left leg have been broken, and I believe Uzumaki-san presents an adequate adversary, a most youthful rival, to overcome!"

Gai tried to wrap his mind around this odd fact. Lee's training weights... on impact with Naruto's skull... had broken? But they were steel, engraved with special gravity seals to both make them heavier and extend their influence over the entire body. When steel, especially _that_ steel, met bone, it shouldn't be the bone that broke the steel... He looked over at the orange clad shinobi, who had taken a cloth from his pocket to clean the blood from his face and staunch the bleeding, as he put said cloth away. He wasn't bleeding any more, and he'd done little more than swipe absently at the wound...

It was hard, but it had to be done. "Permisision granted, Lee, but exercise good judgement and caution!"

A delighted Lee jumped up, the weights from his leg-warmers in each hand. "Thank you Gai-sensei!" he yelled with joy... oh, yes, and youth!... as he dropped the weights... which cratered the floor on impact, clouds of dust thrown high in the air...

"_How much did those things weigh?_" was the incredulous thought that ran through every mind present but two. One of these was Maito Gai, and the other his student.

Then Lee vanished from view, incredibly, too fast to follow with the eye, and suddenly Naruto was launched skywards from a kick he did not anticipate hammering into his jaw from below. As he soared through the air, Lee was suddenly there again, driving him in another direction with a hefty kick to Naruto's gut... this was not good...

Naruto channelled his chakra into his whisker-marks, and tried to feel the wind, as he'd done in the forest against the Yoru ninja, and was successful. It was of limited value, however, as Lee's speed was too great for him to do more than roll with the blow, reducing the actual injury.

It was as the blue-eyed jinchuuriki sailed across the room, parallel to the floor, that he got some idea of how much trouble he was in, as Lee's bandages, that had been wrapped about the older boy's wrists, lashed around Naruto, trapping him for whatever was about to happen, and thus strapped together, they began to spiral towards the floor, picking up speed as they plunged towards the stone, with Lee jumping clear at the next to last second. Sensing Lee was clear, Naruto now felt no compunction in unleashing his bonemetal, the spikes driving outwards, and sections of him simply plating over with it, his chakra recklessly poured into surviving, even as the floor cratered again, and dust from the impact hid the floor of the room. Lee appeared, panting, on the raised fingers of the shinobi statue. He was uncertain what was different about Naruto, but every time he'd kicked or punched the boy it had hurt, especially when the bone was close to the surface of the flesh. Lee ached all over, at every impact site, and he was exhausted. With the sole exception of the two Hyuuga, who had their Byakugan active, no-one could see through the dust, and while Hinata may have been reassured by what she saw, Neji's eyes were bulging far more than even the Hyuuga bloodline limit could account for.

Inside the settling dust, Naruto was slowly pulling in his bony spikes and plates. He was nearly running on fumes, and he didn't want too many people to see his kekkei genkai active yet. One more month, that was all he needed.

Lee had really done a number on him. Naruto was hurting all along his skeleton, and although he knew he'd recover faster than anyone else, he also realised that his Saiko Katsuryoku was much, much slower when his chakra was depleted. He struggled to his feet as the dust dispersed, shocking Gai and Lee as he took hold of his head and stretched, one way then the other, each time causing a series of popping sounds... "That's better," he said, bracing himself to continue. "Shall we?"

Lee stared at Naruto. When he'd realised he'd just performed the Primary Lotus on a younger ninja, he had at first been alarmed, having responded more by muscle memory than by conscious decision. He'd been terrified that he'd killed his fellow Konoha genin. Now, the terrified feelings came from something else entirely... after that, Naruto stood up and wanted more!? He looked across to Gai-sensei, who shook his head. Opening the gates would strain him further, and the damage would almost certainly take months to recover from, if he did. Standing, he spoke clearly. "I see no benefit to continuing this fight," he announced. "Proctor, I forfeit this match."

Hayate shook his head. These were strange circumstances indeed. "Winner, cough Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto trudged up the stairs, a clue for those who knew him well, although Lee moved no faster. As he got closer to Hinata, he almost cringed beneath her loving gaze. "I'm sorry if I worried you," he told her.

"I know," she replied, "but we are shinobi. I don't ask that you stop going forth. I ask that you always come back to me."

"It's a promise," he declared. "Believe it!"

She nodded and whispered. "Always."

"Hinata-hime," he murmured.

"Hai, Naru-kun?"

"I love you very much," he answered, "but I'm going to fall over now."

As he suited the deed to the word, she caught him, gathering him close as he slept, his head pillowed on her lap.

Gai and Lee reassessed Naruto... _again_. The boy had been virtually running on the fumes of his chakra, and he'd _bluffed _Lee into a forfeit. This one was worth watching closely indeed.

* * *

**Inuzuka Kiba vs Nusuma Fukuro.**

Kiba was dismissive of his opponent as he and Akamaru strode from the bottom step to the middle of the room. Her white hair and dark eyes didn't register as measuring him at all. As she stopped, a good fifteen feet from him, she was looking at Akamaru. Tugging her jumpsuit to be a little more comfortable, she adjusted the thick leather gauntlet that covered her right arm to the elbow, with its plated knuckles and open palm and fingers. "So you work with a canine partner... that makes you an Inuzuka, and a male one... loud, opinionated, but loyal and focused... You might be a worthy foe," she said, calmly assessing him.

"Ha!" Kiba barked. "You know it, but this is a fight where you're outnumbered. While Akamaru and I work as one, there are two of us to the one of you."

The Kumo girl gave a soft smile. She was not a delicate little thing like Suzume, but she was a pretty young kunoichi. Still, that smile... "But Inuzuka-san, whoever said I was alone?"

She threw her arm out to one side, while making an odd call, one he'd occasionally heard at night, and a huge, white owl swooped silently down to land on Fukuro's gauntleted arm. "This is Shirohime, and I think you'll find two-on-two odds more than enough to deal with as you are."

Hayate's call to begin set the stage, but with two to deal with, Kiba went straight to the big guns, pulling out a food pill and hurling it to Akamaru, even as Fukuro set Shirohime to wing. The white owl was fast, intercepting the food pill and swallowing it herself, as Kiba gasped... he didn't know the bird could move that fast.

Shirohime returned to Fukuro as she spoke. "Thank you Inuzuka-san, and I was told that male Inuzuka were terrible to their guests," she teased, as Kiba hurried to find another pill. Even as he found it, she was unleashing a very familiar, if somewhat modified technique... "Twin soul clones!" she called as Akamaru crunched at and swallowed the second pill, the back-up Kiba had in case he needed it... as now. The figures that emerged from the smoke were a blend of the girl and the owl, white feathered wings spread high and wide, and they both launched into the air.

"Man-beast clones!" Kiba cried as he and Akamaru used the Inuzuka version of the jutsu. Two somewhat canine Kibas now stood there and prepared their special move as something hit the floor in front of them... and burst into blinding light before either could look away... Blinded, unable to hear Fukuro or Shirohime as they swooped in, neither was able to defend themselves against the silent aerial onslaught that left them trussed up like chickens in reams of ninja-wire...

"Winner, cough Nusuma Fukuro cough," declared the proctor.

Even as Kiba struggled free of the wire (Akamaru just dispersing the jutsu freed himself that way), his partner barked at him, admiring their opponents' strength and teamwork. This Fukuro had, in a way, reminded him of his mother... "Oh, kami," he thought, recognising a bigger, stronger version of what he'd felt towards Hinata. "I'm in love..."

* * *

**Akado Yoroi vs Temari.**

"Hajime!" called Hayate, and a massive gale-force typhoon smashed past him, driving the 'Konoha' shinobi a good foot into the wall behind him before he fell forward, collapsing as the wind from the Suna kunoichi's fan dispersed.

"Winner, Temari cough."

* * *

**Tsurugi Misumi vs Tamaishi Tobu.**

Tamaishi may have looked a virtual clone of his team-mate Koshi, but where his friend preferred a sturdy defence, Tobu was an artillery piece, favouring the long range jutsu. So when Misumi jumped back to gain the distance to use his own technique, dislocating and stretching his limbs, the Iwa ninja was already making hand-seals. "Flying avalanche jutsu!"

A number of rocks tore their way through the floor and whistled as they flew through the air towards the hapless shinobi opposing Tobu. All his flexibility helped little against a torrent of stone pinning you down and dropping rocks on your skull.

"Winner cough, Tamaishi Tobu." Hayate was very impressed. Misumi was just pressed.

* * *

**Yamanaka Ino vs Ginkumo Kura.**

Ino took her place on the Atrium floor after a few repairs had been made, and faced her opponent, a short, slender man with a number of kunai in hand, who actually crouched, balanced, on a kunai he'd embedded in the floor. His eyes were never at rest, constantly in motion, and she recognised that expression on his face of boredom. This was a strategist like Shikamaru. This would not be easy.

As the fight began, she remembered her new sensei's advice. "If they know your name," he'd said, "then they have a good chance of knowing what you can do with it. So do something else, something they won't expect, to buy yourself time. It does take time to make that focusing seal the Yamanaka jutsu require, so cut it to the bone!" And she had, training so that her seal was faster than she'd ever dreamed possible... she'd vowed to herself a new goal, to master her clan jutsu until she didn't need the seals... something even her father could not do.

Her opponent spoke. "I'm sorry," he said.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," he repeated, and expanded on his apology. "That you've already lost I mean. Just luck of the draw, I guess."

Ino's face flushed red with anger as she stood waiting for the proctor's call. When it finally came, she whipped her hands up to make the hand-seal and...

Kura's voice broke through her concentration as she did. "Tsuchi no Kuni's mines produce some of the best ninja wire," he said as his kunai swooshed past her in a wide pattern, and he waved his hands in a complex pattern.

"So what?" Ino snapped, as she brought her hands up once more, only to find herself unable to bring them together. Raising her eyes to see her opponent, she saw the metal rings decorating his gloves... and the wires that connected to them.

"I thought you'd appreciate being beaten by the best," he answered as he hauled both hands upwards, tightening the wires and dragging his opponent to the floor, unable to move. "Kumojutsu: Cat's Cradle."

* * *

**Haruno Sakura vs Dairiseki Otome.**

Hayate glanced from the girl with pink hair, to the other, who looked almost albino, if it weren't for her pure jet-black eyes. As he called "Hajime!" and jumped back, the two girls took their stances, with Sakura in the basic Konoha Academy style, and the Iwa girl in a loose stance with fists high beside her head, standing on the balls of her feet, swaying a little from foot to foot.

Despite her petite stature, Otome was considered the most dangerous member of her team, second to Ishiguma-sensei, of course. His Stone Bear style made him a virtual juggernaut, and was credited for his survival against the Yondaime... he'd admittedly spent a _lot_ of time hospitalised, but he did live. In her case, it was her kekkei genkai, the Ishi no Hifu, the skin of stone. She was almost impervious to conventional attacks, but unfortunately, paid for it with no real sense of touch. She could vaguely feel pressure, but she had to spend her entire waking life constantly paying attention to her every action.

Sakura knew nothing of the Marble Maiden of Iwa, the adopted child of the Stone Bear. But she did know her own abilities, and after what she'd seen today, was wondering if she was really ready for this. She'd entered the Exams and done her best, mostly to support Sasuke-kun, the assistance she'd given Naruto not-withstanding. He hadn't really been annoying for the past few years, and he seemed really happy to be with Hinata-chan. Still, Sakura wasn't going to stop without giving it her all, and maybe Sasuke would notice her...

She struck fast, her fist blurring in a strike that would come in under the girl's guard and...

Sakura found herself on the floor with a burning ache in the side of her face. The Iwa kunoichi had dropped her elbow into Sakura's fist, bouncing the strike off course, and her fist had driven into the opening, and that's where everything went white. As the pink-haired girl rose shakily, her opponent glared at her.

Otome was not happy. That had been too easy. Even if she was her team's taijutsu specialist, the Konoha girl should have been able to do something, but at the last second her gaze had flicked to one side and back... gah. Her opponent was crushing on someone who was present. Otome could not stop herself from speaking. "Sakura, yes?" At the other girl's nod, after she'd spat out some blood, the Iwa kunoichi continued. "Your eyes are on the summit, but your feet must tread the path. Why do you fall?"

Sakura heard the words, and a puzzled look crossed her face. She took her stance once more, and the white-skinned Iwa sighed, taking her own. "One more, then."

This time, Sakura was more focused, but it didn't help overly. She saw exactly what happened this time, as she thrust a fist at her opponent's face, only for Otome to slap it aside with her hand, and continue spiralling in, her elbow connecting with Sakura's jaw. The bright side was, now both sides of her face matched...

Her last try was a kick, lashing out towards Otome's midsection, but the Marble Maiden's rising knee swept up to prevent it, and the rest of her leg extended straight up, so that her two legs made almost a straight line up and down, as the smaller girl brought her leg down in a crashing blow, like driving an axe through wood. It was a devastating attack, even had Otome not had her kekkei genkai, and the cracks as Sakura's collarbone broke, along with the forearm she'd raised in a frantic and off-balance attempt to block, were clearly audible.

To Sakura's surprise, she could hear Otome curse. "Sorry, I think I overdid it a little," she said. "No sense of touch, sometimes I misjudge the force I'm using."

Sakura could feel herself passing out, and gasped a last question before she did. "Wait, what did you mean about the summit and the path?"

"Think about it," Otome answered, "and it will come to you."

The last thing Sakura heard before losing her hold on the waking world was Hayate calling out. "Winner, cough-cough Dairiseki Otome!"


	13. Seal 13: Prepare

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.

**Thirteenth Seal: Prepare.**

The medics had carried Sakura away minutes before, and the thirteen genin remaining were standing before the statue once more. By some coincidence or design, each had at least one team-mate nearby, and three complete teams had made it to the third exam's tournament stage. As Hiruzen stood before them and cast a measuring gaze upon them he was surprised to a degree. He'd been certain that Naruto would have made it this far, but for his team-mates to do so as well, was an unexpected bonus. If there was a downside to the results, it would be that so few Konoha ninja made it this far, but he was content that those who stood here were the best genin available.

"The thirteen of you who stand here are the very pinnacle of shinobi," he said, with no preamble before his speech. Why waste the time? After he was done here he was going to have to listen to the civilians on the council whine about the Uchiha's 'unfair' treatment, how someone must have cheated to pull that match, or drugged their golden boy. They wouldn't understand the corruptive influence of that curse-mark. Dragging his mind away from Sasuke's dilemma, he went on. "As a result, you will be set against each other in the tournament in one month's time. This delay serves a dual purpose. First, it allows those important persons and officials who wish to attend time to arrive. They can see for themselves the quality of shinobi they are hiring for their tasks. The second reason, and far more relevant to yourselves, is that it allows you time to train and develop new techniques, or master old ones. As each of you has seen the others fight, with a few exceptions," here he thought of Naruto after his fight with Rock Lee, "so you know something of your opponents. Now is the time for you to find something to surprise them, to show others that you are not stagnant and idle, but truly ready for the responsibilities that come with being chunin. Your sensei await you, and I wish you good training. Dismissed."

* * *

As the Hokage swept from the room, the ninja who were left found their way to their sensei and those team-mates who hadn't needed medical attention or specialist assistance. Of those who had not advanced, Kiba was looking particularly lost, and his gaze kept slipping towards the Kumo team, who had all made the tournament... or rather, towards one particular member thereof. Hinata spotted the signs, and smiled. The poor boy was smitten, and had no idea how to deal with it. On top of that, one of his team-mates was hospitalised, and the other was having his curse-mark contained... if that was a manageable goal. He couldn't even turn to his sensei. A glance at Naruto, a nod, and she walked up to their Inuzuka friend.

"Kiba, we were going to go to Ichiraku's for ramen to celebrate our team making it this far. Would you like to join us, you and Akamaru?" she asked politely. Kiba looked up at her, and shook his head.

"Nah. I've got some deep and heavy thinking ahead, some stuff I may even have to ask my ma about. I wouldn't be very good company, anyway. Tell you what, next time..." He paused. He didn't want to say the words 'my treat', because Naruto could literally eat his way through Kiba's savings easily. It was like saying 'all you can eat' to Chouji. "...I'll buy you guys a bowl." That said, he drifted away.

Before anyone had the chance to leave, Gekkou Hayate stepped up to the front of the dais, with a whiteboard set-up and a box with a hole in the top that rattled. "If I could get your attention, please, those who will be part of the tournament. In this box are a number of white balls with numbers from one to thirteen. As each of you draws one your name goes next to that number and the next person draws. In this way we learn exactly who each of you will be facing in the first round of the tournament. The way things are arranged, one of you gets a free pass to the second round, and another, different person gets a pass to the third. Then the last two will face each other. Please bear in mind that all aspects of your performance will be judged, not just where you finish. There may be multiple chunin, or none. Even those who have already been eliminated may yet be selected to be promoted, should their reports reflect them as deserving such a distinction."

One by one, they drew out the numbers, and each name was slotted into place on the board. Tenten was the lucky one who drew thirteen, and received a pass in the first round, while Neji received the number ten. The Kumo team stepped forward next to draw, with Kura getting the five, Suzume the twelve and Fukuro drew the eight. Then Otome and Tobu drew the four and two respectively, and it was Team Eight's turn to draw. Shino looked at the ball in his hand. The seven.

Hinata was nervous as Naruto drew the three, and when she reached for her own, received the nine. When the Suna ninja received their numbers, Temari got the six, Kankuro the eleven, and Gaara received the one. A few moments later, the line-ups were completed.

The matches set, Hayate looked over the genin before him. "Now that we know who will be facing who, each of you should discuss your training for the next month with your sensei. Since you will be unavailable for missions or legal issues, unless you commit a crime, you will each receive pay as though for an ongoing C-rank mission. Good luck to you all."

* * *

Kurenai was looking carefully at her genin, running things over in her mind. Their skills, as had been displayed in the preliminaries, were incredible, easily chunin level, and Hinata's victory in particular had caused ripples in the Hyuuga clan. This 'Gentle Storm' she had developed was a devastatingly effective extension of the Hyuuga techniques, but it was in a direction that most of the clan couldn't wield, so they would try to deny it. Talk about cutting off their nose to spite their face. She needed people who could teach her genin, who could help them reach the next level...

Shino's father had delivered a message from his grandfather, acknowledging certain strides the young man had made in integrating his lightning chakra with his colony, and offering the youth a _second_ colony, something only offered those the Aburame believed special, elite, and above all... capable. She certainly wasn't going to hold him back on that count.

Naruto's teacher should have been an easy choice, but after the fight she'd seen, she had to wonder if there was anyone she knew short of a sannin who _could_ advance his skills, and Naruto had already encountered all three of those... in fact, maybe she _should_ ask them... It had struck her for a moment as she pondered his fight with Lee, trying to spot a flaw in the whole thing that needed to be addressed, that she blanked as she realised: While _Lee_ had removed his weights... Naruto had not...

As for Hinata, the Hyuuga would already have laid out a demand for their most accomplished warrior, Hiashi himself, to help with Neji's training, and the man would comply, and he himself could not assist Hinata with her unique style, based off the same Hyuuga style, but apparently far more dangerous... She needed someone with a lightning affinity to help her integrate it, and also someone who could help a newly developing style grow.

Her best choice would be to contact Jiraiya for his aid, and let him take it from there, but first... "Shinshi-kun, I have a _tiny_ favour to ask of you. In return, I'll help your team with dealing with genjutsu..."

* * *

A man in a grey cloak, embroidered with a crane, and a wide hat , sat at the bar, nursing his sake. It didn't take long before he was joined by two others, a stocky man whose red cloak bore a willow tree and an older man, limping a little, bearing a peacock on his blue cloak. This one carried a bag beside him, and placed it on a stool next to them as he waved over a sake for himself.

"He measures up then?" the crane-cloaked one asked.

"Of course," the willow-wearer stated. "You remember Sarutobi Asuma, yes? He was assigned to Asuma's team as a chunin assistant, and was so efficient at keeping them improving themselves that it became a habit. He even had Shikaku's boy doing sit-ups while he watched the clouds, if you can believe it."

The peacock-clad man nodded. "He even brought _his_ team to be outfitted anew at my store as a form of consolation prize," he admitted. "The youngest Gentleman has done all that we have. He just needs to really show what he's capable of in a life or death situation. We're agreed, then?"

They each nodded, and then parted ways. It soon spread, it was official. The three Gentleman had accepted a fourth.

* * *

"Let me get this straight," the blond woman spoke harshly with her old friend. "You, want me, to go _back_ to the village that claimed the lives of my brother and my fiance, in order to train to kids who have a huge potential, one of which we know already, the other is a girl starting up her own style branching off from her family's, in order that they can take up the dream my loved ones died for, that killed Minato and Kushina, all because they deserve better than what the council would let them have or relegate them to?"

Jiraiya cringed as she put it _that _way. "When you say it like that it sounds so bad... I'm sorry, I'll have to make other arrangements..."

The fist that wrapped itself in his kimono front and hauled him to her face had no business being so strong while not looking it. "Ooohh, no, you don't," she hissed at him. "I wasn't saying no, I was just making sure I understood. Uzumaki vs Impossible, my money's on Uzumaki... it's the only time I win without a disaster waiting in the wings."

* * *

"Greetings, Uzumaki-sama, Hyuuga-sama," the well-built bald man with the goatee said, his dark glasses hiding his eyes and his new green cloak, decorated with a tiger, billowing in the breeze "I am Sodaitora Shinshi, the Gentleman Tiger. I am here to assist the two of you with elemental integration, and learning the lightning element." He turned to Naruto. "Sadly, I can help little with the fire element, I have only earth, wind and lightning. But what I teach, you will learn."

Naruto and Hinata exchanged a glance as the older shinobi took out a scroll and a brush. "The first step would be to increase the effectiveness of your weight training. Now this is a gravity seal with a factor of two..."

* * *

In the Hyuuga compound, Hiashi worked with Neji, giving the young man a solid and unbreakable grip on the foundations of the Gentle Fist, while his nephew's team-mate was trained in no small way by her adopted father. He was starting to wonder about them, though, as they would disappear together in the afternoons, to reappear much later, flushed and sweating, almost exhausted. There were a few other activities he could imagine that would have two teenagers in such a state, he was certain, but for some reason, he couldn't think of any off the top of his head...

They seemed to enjoy that time, he supposed, and he would like Neji to be happy, but perhaps next time he should follow them, just to make sure they knew what they were getting into...

* * *

Sasuke glared in the mirror. A _third _ring of seals had been inked into place around this curse-mark, apparently meant to seal it away. They wouldn't work. They hadn't worked the first time, and those seals had been set by a master, the sannin called Jiraiya. In the entire history of Konoha, only two others had surpassed him with fuinjutsu, and neither of those were alive.

* * *

It was an odd trio that presented themselves in the Hokage's office. The blond looked to be in her mid-thirties at the oldest, the brunette carrying the pig was in her twenties, and the white-haired old man was easily in his fifties or sixties. All three carried themselves like shinobi, and all three bowed low. "As requested, Hokage-sensei, we are here to assist in the training of Uzumaki Naruto."

Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled a genuine smile, something that, apart from occasional cameos on his face at some amusing thing Naruto had managed, had been absent from his expressions for far too long. "Welcome home, Tsunade-san. So Naruto was all it took to get you home then? I wish I'd known this earlier, I'd have had him write to you... as soon as I taught him to write." He rose and came around the desk to hug his former student. "You have really been gone far too long. Let me tell you what that boy has done so far, especially his mission to Nami no Kuni, and how well he's done in the Chunin Exams."

Tsunade went pale as she remembered the exact words on a very old bet she'd had with Naruto. "Chunin Exams? He's in line to be a chunin, now, is he?" Her gaze drifted to Jiraiya, who nervously cleared his throat.

"I knew something had slipped my mind," he said. "Apparently he's done quite well, a very strong young man, and that's why he and his fiancee need your training." Too late, the Toad Sage _knew_ he'd just slipped up again.

"Fiancee? **Dear** Jiraiya-**san,** please do **tell me how** a young boy gets engaged **and you forget to tell me about it?**" Tsunade's voice ran up and down from growls to purrs, and Jiraiya felt the deep sub-conscious beast within him and all men... crawl under his metaphorical bed and hide, muttering 'You're on your own' over and over. Coming clean sounded like a very good idea...

* * *

Shimura Danzou was not a happy man, less so now that the Uchiha was out of the running for the tournament. Looking around the table at the other councillors, he opened his mouth, only to be cut off by the Hokage. "Not a word, Danzou," Hiruzen almost snarled, with such venom even his old team-mates were taken aback. "With the migraine masquerading as a Chunin Exams that _you_ insisted Hatake Kakashi nominate his team for, if you say one word about his not being given a fair chance, I will, by the thousand and one kami, _nail_ you to this table and let Ibiki and Inoichi at you."

The council was silent... although _most_ of the shinobi half of the council was impressed. The Yamanaka head even looked over at Danzou, almost a challenge in itself. "_Go ahead,_" that look seemed to say, "_I _dare_ you. And I will _enjoy_ ripping your secrets from your mind."_ Danzou, quite prudently, remained silent.

Hiruzen glared at the agenda for today's meeting. "Hmph. Let's see what you have in your heads today... First Item, the 'obvious' railroading of the preliminaries and the defrauding of Uchiha Sasuke of his place in the tournament." Hiruzen looked over at the civilian side of the council. "You do realise you have no jurisdiction over military decisions, right? That you could be charged for even attempting it?" At the nervous glances, he saw that they weren't reading the laws they were trying to use against him properly. Someone had given them that most dangerous of things... a _little_ information.

Clearing his throat, he spoke. "First Item denied." As Danzou opened his mouth to protest, Hiruzen pointed at him. "Not. One. Word. All meeting. Or else." Turning the page, Hiruzen continued. "Application to invoke the Clan Registration Act, on behalf of Uzumaki Naruto, whose signature is _not_ affixed, and the potential brides... aren't these the very girls who used to spit on him before his abduction? You've failed to include his current fiancee, and another thing that you've missed..." Here he smirked. "He is currently enlisted in the Chunin Exams, and stands a good chance of promotion." His finger was pointing at Danzou before the old warhawk could even think of opening his mouth this time... although Haruno Mebuki stood in protest.

"Uzumaki-sama has kekkei genkai that are valuable to Konoha, it is imperative that such not be lost through random blending with other bloodlines, and as the boy in question is not yet of age, and is a genin, he falls under _civilian_ jurisdiction for this purpose." Her lecture was piercing, and Inuzuka Tsume was holding her ears by the end of the declamation.

Hyuuga Hiashi raised his hand. "Hokage-sama, if I may?" At Hiruzen's wave of invitation, he stood. "Mebuki-san, you are operating with a flawed premise. Uzumaki Naruto is under consideration for promotion to chunin, a state that carries with it legal majority, as such ninja have proven themselves to deserve it. Since he is within such consideration as part of the Chunin Exams,he is currently beyond all legal actions until his status is resolved, save those that apply to criminal activity against Konoha. Should he, as is likely, achieve the rank of chunin, he will then have the right to declare or deny this... CRA for himself. Introducing this in such a manner is thus illegal, although I am sure Hokage-sama can forgive such a thing... once."

It was a much paler Mebuki who dropped into her seat, and glared in Danzou's direction, as Hiruzen made another announcement. "Second Item, denied. Third Item..." He turned another page. This meeting... he was beginning to agree with the Nara clan... so troublesome.

* * *

The Kumo genin occupied a tree set a small distance from the walls of the Hyuuga estate, looking towards that compound. "Their guards are good, no openings there," Kura said to his team-mates. "Going over the wall won't work, and the girl is too well protected on her way to and from their Academy. This is a strategic nightmare. The luck of the draw I guess."

Suzume slapped him with her sketchbook, before returning to her landscape of the area. "You know I hate that phrase, Kura-nii," she told her surrogate 'big brother', never mind the fact that she was older than he. "What about that house?"

Kura shook his head. "Hardly. That Uzumaki lives there, and we all saw him fight... could any of _us_ have taken that hit and just shaken it off like that? Bad strategy to tick off someone that good."

Suzume nodded absently. "This is a terrible idea, too, Raikage's orders or not. The target he ordered is the sister of that Hyuuga girl from the first preliminary... you saw what she did? I'm starting to doubt our Kage's sanity. What do you think, Fukuro-chan?" She looked back at her 'sister'. They weren't related, any of them, except by circumstance, all being orphans taken in by the goodness of Kumogakure no Sato's collective heart... and if you believed that, she had a bridge in Nami she wanted to sell you. While Kura's last name was now kind of cool, it hadn't been that long ago that it had been the same as theirs. Nusuma. Stolen. A dead giveaway. Her sister in all but blood however, was not paying attention. She was instead staring dreamily in completely the wrong direction... towards a young man with scruffy black hair and a small white dog.

"Hmm?" Fukuro realised slowly that her team wanted something from her. "If they build them like him, this place can't be all that bad, can it?"

The giggles of Suzume told her that answer had nothing to do with her question.

Kura rolled his eyes. "Enough recon, time for practice."

* * *

Another axe-haft shattered in the pale girl's grip as her sensei coached her. She was getting better, she knew, but still she sighed as she cast it aside. "I don't think weapons are the answer, Ishiguma-sensei..." She corrected herself at his glare. "Tou-san... sorry."

"Indeed not," the voice of her adoptive father, the Stone Bear of Iwa, was like someone trying to gargle gravel. "But it has given you the control you need for the Dream Breaker jutsu. Now, gather your chakra, so..."

* * *

Naruto stared at Jiraiya. When Tsunade-sama had arrived, and offered to help train Hinata, he'd taken it as a godsend, and Jiraiya's offer to teach him at the same time was almost as welcome. The two of them had learned much from Shinshi, but he had his own team to teach, and while Kurenai could help them with genjutsu and breaking them, Naruto was unlikely to be able to use such. He was even excited to hear about the whole summons contract concept. But this...

"You, want me, to summon toads and frogs?" He asked, to be sure he'd heard correctly.

"Yeah, it'll be great," the old man said, caught up in the thought, "Your dad could do it, I taught him how, and now you, too can hold the Toad Mountain contract."

Naruto shrugged off the feelings of pride about his dad, as he needed more reasons to be proud of him, and crossed his arms. "So you want me to summon creatures that would see my team-mate as a snack? You do recall that Shino's an Aburame, right?" The look on the old sannin's face informed Naruto that Jiraiya had indeed forgotten. "What other summons are there?"

"Kakashi has the Dog Plains contract, Tsunade and Shizune the Slug Marsh, that Anko girl has the Serpent River, and the Hokage has the Monkey Jungle one. There are others but those are the main ones." Jiraiya shook his head. "I've even heard rumours that the female Aburame have been keeping the Mantis Ridge contract hidden."

"Is there a fox contract?"

Jiraiya's eyebrow rose. "Not that I know of, kid," he replied. "I suppose if you had a powerful enough creature, you could make one, but you also have to find the associated location for the creatures you summon, and that goes in the contract's name. If a contract's signatories all die, then the next person to summon that creature has to start from scratch."

Naruto thought hard as he ruminated on Jiraiya's words. "So what should I learn in the meantime?" he asked. "I've got three weeks and as many shadow clones as I can make, so let me see what you can teach me."

* * *

Hinata stared as the fish flopped and thrashed, and Shizune threw the poor thing back into the water. "Whoa," the older kunoichi said as the magnitude of what she'd witnessed sank in. "I didn't get it down that fast... Tsunade, maybe we should recruit some Hyuuga for the medi-nin corps?"

The medic of the sannin nodded. Hinata may not have had huge reserves of power, but she did have superlative chakra control, and the Byakugan was a major benefit to the things she was learning. Add in the Gentle Storm style she was developing... Naruto was just lucky he was already engaged to her, because once her abilities became known, the poor girl would have been part of some bidding war to gain her as a bride to improve her own or another's clan.

* * *

Yamanaka Inoichi slugged back the bottle of sake, much to the surprise of his friends. As Shikaku and Chouza stared, the blond jonin gestured for two more. "Hinata and Naruto came in for therapy today," he said. After the bottle, he was feeling a little buzzed, but he was still far too sober for his own liking. "I was there to do the assessment to see if my wife could look through their minds without running into S-class secrets. Hinata's mind isn't too bad, just nightmares of failing Naruto, Hiashi's attitude while growing up, she's seen worse. But Naruto..." The sake arrived and he slugged back another, before pouring from the third bottle.

"I won't... I can't in good conscience let another wade through what I encountered in that poor young man's head." Shikaku caught the way his friend spoke of the thirteen-year-old, who was no doubt training hard at that very moment. "He remembers the experiments they did on him, you know? He has a terror that they'll come for him, or worse, as far as he's concerned, for Hinata. And that was bad enough, but the way he lived, the way he was treated, before he was abducted..." More sake disappeared into the mind-walker's belly. "His passenger is in there, too, fully aware, and that one _enjoys_ scaring the spit out of people. He even gave me a guided tour of Naruto's mind... including the things our own children did. You two can be proud of your boys, but Ino... I have to talk with Ino." He pushed away from the bar and left, shaking a little, but otherwise stone cold sober... Something he should not have been, having consumed as much sake as he had.

* * *

As they stood before the gates of the stadium, Team Eight glanced at each other. The gates slowly swung open and they stepped forward, into a future they were making for themselves, and seizing with their own hands.


	14. Seal 14: Contend

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye... _then_ it's a _party_!

**Fourteenth Seal: Contend.**

Ino sat in the stands with her parents, gazing out at the assembled hopefuls and listening to the gossip below. Two weeks ago, her father had asked her permission to examine certain memories, so that he had the context for the actions she'd taken. Puzzled, she'd 'hitch-hiked' with him as he plunged into her mind, and looked closely at everything she'd ever done or said... to Naruto. She'd wondered why, as she saw the past rise up once more, and seen exactly what she'd done, how she'd slapped down any attempt at friendship by this dirty, badly clad orphan... what ninja wears orange unless they're a fool or decoy? She'd seen the other kids do worse than taunt, she'd seen the bruised and battered Naruto, and once she'd even witnessed the beating he took because he wouldn't give that bully from the basic school his real name, instead calling him Hajime, under the logic "Well, you're always starting fights..."

She was not proud of her past self, nor was she looking forward to the lecture she was certain that she'd receive from her father... one she felt she actually deserved, and what teenage girl ever thinks that? Then her father found something she'd suppressed, an almost forgotten memory from years ago. She'd found a really badly beaten Naruto in the park, where he'd been left by whoever beat him, with a welt on his forehead from an adult's hand, as that Hyuuga girl, Hinata was dragged away by an insensitive carer (if such an oxymoron could exist). The bullies had left, laughing, and she'd wanted to avoid the boy... but she'd heard his belly growl loudly.

One rice-ball. One single, solitary morsel, that she'd been saving as a treat for herself for the walk home. Yet when she saw this boy, having heard the Hyuuga girl's words, she left it for him instead, not understanding why. She wasn't sure why even now, years after the event. So she retreated from her own mind, and opened her eyes. Her father's sudden embrace was shocking, she was expecting a lecture, deserved one in her own eyes, yet for some reason, that one memory, that single riceball, had affected her normally cheerfully stoic father, like this? She had barely made out his voice as he spoke.

"I have seen Naruto's side of these events, too," he'd whispered. "I'm not happy with your behaviour. But that riceball... he never knew who left it for him, but he remembered it. You didn't give it to him to get anything, there was no possible gain for you. You left it because it was the right thing to do. _That_ makes me proud of you."

The stands rang with the noise of the crowd, and she pushed her introspection away to watch her former class-mates perform.

* * *

In the arena, a good twenty feet below the stands, the sickly proctor stood side by side with his assistants, a woman with long purple hair and a man with a long grass stem in his mouth. All three wore swords, and Gekkou Hayate stepped forward holding out the sheet that had the match-ups arrayed on it. "Take a quick look at this," he said, "and refresh your memory on who your first fight is against. Those of you not in the first match are to go up the stairs behind _that_ door," here he pointed to a doorway in the walls of the stadium, "to the waiting area for the contestants."

As the participants not fighting moved quickly from the field, Hiruzen looked over to the Kazekage on the next throne over. At least, he thought it was the Kazekage... he couldn't be certain with that veil over the man's face, and he himself had never met the man... so why did he seem so familiar? "Your son is in the first match, I see," He said, attempting to draw the man into conversation.

"That is not my son," the Kazekage said in an indistinct voice. "I do pity the Iwa boy's bad luck." Quietly and furiously, the man behind the mask had other thoughts. "_I hope that Gaara's bloodthirst doesn't go too far, that could ruin the whole plan..._"

* * *

**1. Sabaku no Gaara vs 2. Tamaishi Tobu.**

Tobu knew what he was getting into in this match, he'd seen the reports of aftermaths where Gaara had been involved against Iwa ninja. They weren't pretty. Still, he felt he was tougher and stronger than most, he should have a chance, particularly with his facility with earth jutsu. As he took his stance, the one called Gaara simply stood there, his arms crossed. The hail of stones from Tobu's first jutsu, intended to test the waters, so to speak, were slapped aside contemptuously by tendrils of sand that sprang up from the ground, sand that was even now slowly pouring from the gourd on the other boy's back.

Gaara was measuring the heavily muscled young man in the white outfit. The rocks were mildly interesting, and the wave of dirt that he shockwaved towards Gaara stopped dead when it hit a counter-wave of sand. This was boring, and mother cried out for blood...

Tobu stepped up, right at the edge of Gaara's sand, his hands flickering through an array of hand-seals before he plunged them into the sand. "Doton: Terrain Domination!" he cried out as he unleashed the chakra to make this sand answer to _his _will instead of his foe's... It came as a great surprise, therefore as the sand did _not_ release his hands when he tried to stand, but instead held him firm, beginning to spiral up his arms and cover him as Gaara finally lifted one hand towards him.

"Sand Coffin," came the harsh whisper, and Tobu's heart dropped in his chest. He could guess what came next, and the last thing he saw was his friend Koshi, in the stands screaming Tobu's name, as the sand covered his face. "Sand Burial!"

As the sand covering the larger genin turned red with a terrible sound, Gaara sighed with an expression suspiciously like relief, and Temari relaxed a little. The plan was still good, Gaara had just taken the edge off his bloodlust, and it wasn't like Iwa could hate him any more.

Otome watched what was left of her team-mate drip slowly through the sand, and as Gaara pulled the blood-soaked sand back to his gourd, releasing the crushed and ruined thing that had once been Tobu, a young man filled with laughter and knowledge, she wondered why she still couldn't cry. She could sorrow, she could mourn, but no tears ever came. Recalling the match-ups, she quirked one corner of her mouth upward, while her brow settled in a grim demeanour. She simply had to win her next match, and she could drag her friend's equivalent value from this Gaara's flesh...

* * *

**3. Uzumaki Naruto vs 4. Dairiseki Otome.**

Otome walked slowly to the centre of the field, taking up her stance and freezing in place. Today's events were such that Tou-san, Ishiguma-sensei, had provided her with a new outfit, one in a flattering blue, with leggings and sleeveless jacket. The Kanji for 'bear' written in black on her back loudly proclaimed his pride for her. Her sensei, her father, watched from the stands high above, smiled, and turned to regard the poor fool who'd been pitted against her. As the young genin stepped from the shadows of the doorway he froze. It couldn't be, he was too young and the man who'd taken his eye was dead for at least thirteen years now... It struck him that this must be the son of that man, the Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage, the Yellow Flash.

Naruto had deliberately chosen his outfit for today with care, and some advice from his Hinata-hime. The pants and jacket were, as always, orange, but striped across the legs and arms in black. He wore a coat, like he remembered from that echo of his father, seen so long ago, almost four years now, but this coat was black, with orange flames about the hem, and the lack of sleeves revealed his jacket's crests, the white spiral on his left shoulder and the red spiral on his right. Beneath the coat, seen occasionally as it snapped and billowed around him, the character for Fukutsu, or Fortitude, was prominently displayed in midnight blue over his heart. From a strap across his chest, a large scroll nestled on his back. All three members of Team Eight had one, and each was different. His and Hinata's looked new.

He took his own stance, feet wide, body low, arms forward with the backs of his fists toward the ground and about level with his shoulders, and waited, an almost feral grin of anticipation on his face. This should be interesting...

"Hajime!" called Hayate, and the fight began, Otome moving towards Naruto in a veritable maelstrom of fists, feet, elbows and knees, a blizzard of strikes that he was hard put to fend off. Yet he did. A strike that should have taken off his head slid along his jaw with no real contact, a knee to his ribs instead fell short as he moved. Then she saw it, a fraction of a second with an opening as she spun around his arms, pushing his fists in that direction and drove her elbow into his neck at the base of the skull with truly punishing force, hearing a metallic ratcheting noise as her opponent cartwheeled over to crash down on his back... and disappear in a puff of white smoke.

She snarled, but she was impressed. She'd just given him a crash-course in her fighting style, at minimal cost, and now he knew about the deceptively vicious reverse-elbow. To make things even more interesting, her elbow was throbbing, he was... "_Wait, my elbow is throbbing? But I _never_ feel anything..._"

Her eyes unwillingly drifted to her arm as she worked her stony fingers about the joint. She could feel the pressure she was causing, but little more, until she brushed against the point of impact. The sudden sensation had her hissing, a sharp, indrawn breath. That... actually hurt. Whatever he was made of, this fight was now something she could really enjoy. This boy could make her _feel_... if she could find him.

There he was, on that branch, the one that bowed a little in a manner she found familiar, a hint that the person on the branch was far heavier than they looked. As she watched, he bit his thumb and reached inside his jacket to swipe at something on his chest. "Fuinjutsu: Go Juryoku Fuji: Release!" he called out. And stepped from the branch, which snapped upwards to the nearly vertical once relieved of its burden. As he hit the ground, she was already in motion, her barrage of attacks overwhelming in number... for anyone else.

Naruto felt much lighter with the Five Gravity Seal released, although according to Shinshi, this being one of the two seals the Gentleman Tiger had managed to teach him and Hinata, the other being far less practical in combat, all he had to do was wipe off the blood and run chakra through the seal once more to restore it. As the Iwa kunoichi came in, he saw the pattern his shadow clone had been hard pressed against, and countered it, hammering each of her strikes with a striking surface of his own, plated with bonemetal. She was feeling those, they were hurting her, he could tell... so why was she smelling ever more eager for this fight?

Ishiguma Daikenshi watched from the stands. Were it not for the reserve the Stone Bear style had inculcated in him, he would have been beside himself, without using any bunshin techniques. His daughter was having the fight of her life down there, and feeling it, the pain was obvious in her face. The fact that she _was_ feeling it had him worried. Having found pain, would she seek out more? Or would she seek out other feelings? All he could do was be there, and pray...

Breaking away as Naruto struck a counter-blow at the moment she spun for the reverse-elbow, driving her to one knee which she turned into a roll as she tumbled forwards to reach a standing position, and spinning to face her foe, she saw him charging towards her, and channelled chakra into her body for the Stone Bear techniques Ishiguma had drilled her in. The first stage was easy, to her anyway, the hardened body of Stone Bear, the second was less so, pouring the chakra through the _muscles_ instead of the chakra coils. To anyone who hadn't mastered the first step, this could tear their muscles from the very bones, but if you had, you instead increased your strength immensely with the Iron Bear. She absently tore a nearby tree from the ground and swung it at her blue-eyed foe...

When Naruto saw her tear the tree from the ground like she was picking a daisy, he hesitated, just a fraction of a second, but she swung the tree at him and he had a split-second to counter...

As his claws shot out of his forearms, he was already channelling wind chakra into them, and he struck at the tree, screaming out "Kaze no Tsume! Claws of the Wind!" as he did. The results were two-fold, both halting the tree's swing _and _severing the upper half from the trunk, sending it crashing to the ground, even as the crowd began to roar with applause at the fight unfolding here. Raising his arms before him, crossed over his chest, Naruto grinned at his opponent, who was debating whether or not her current techniques were good enough. Channelling lightning chakra into the claws at the same time as his wind chakra was a little tricky, but the hum that started to emerge from them as the girl's eyes widened was... ominous. She released a storage scroll at her hip and caught the zanbatou, the Horse-killing sword, that emerged. Raising it with both hands, she shouted, a wordless yell of challenge, and charged.

To Naruto, it was close to slow motion, as he swept his claws to cross, intercepting her descending sword, designed to cleave through a horse in a single blow, armoured or not, in a manner similar to the way he'd done against Zabuza. This time, though, he knew what he was doing, and how, thanks to Shinshi-san, and wasn't about to pass out. He roared "Arashi no Tsume!" and the hum of his claws intensified, and the Kumo ninja stared as they recognised the sound of raiton pouring through a blade as Naruto's claws sliced through the tempered steel with all the resistance of water, and hammering his forehead against the Iwa girl's hitai-ate, driving her from her feet, before releasing his grip on his chakra and sheathing his claws.

Ishiguma landed in the arena, staring down at his unconscious daughter . This Uzumaki... (Didn't the Flash have that redhead girlfriend with that name? This was making more and more sense.). He gathered his child and student up, her soft flesh dimpling... The Stone Bear of Iwa paused. Otome's skin was now soft and pink, and he glanced up at the boy... no, the ninja... who'd given her the fight of her life, who shrugged. Wondering at the miracle, he decided to speak with Koshi... Iwa would not learn of this young man through them.

Naruto returned to the participants' seats, claiming the one next to Hinata, as he redid his gravity seal. He answered Hinata's questioning look with a smile. "That style had almost no openings," he explained, "and I didn't think anyone made of stone could be that fast. It was constant offense... I wonder if Lee could use it?"

The announcement of the next match drew their attention back to the stadium floor.

* * *

**5. Sabaku no Temari vs 6. Ginkumo Kura.**

Kura had, like so many others, been somewhat gobsmacked by the fight between the two previous genin. He didn't let it overwhelm him though, just gave his thanks that he hadn't been the unlucky number four. As he skated down the wall on his chakra, a skill he'd discovered himself from the tree climbing exercise (it was a simple matter of 'cycling' the chakra, letting it pull you along, and what he did now was a slightly reversed version, with his chakra used to slow his descent), his mind raced on five different paths. The first part, the quietest, was analysing the previous battle. The second, a little louder, was running through the known tactics of his opponent and possible counters. A wind-user was seriously challenging, she could deflect his weapons virtually at will, and was good at maintaining mid- to long-range distances. Third, he was pondering over a mystery that had come to light _very_ recently. Occasionally, they 'lost' their sensei. He would disappear, and be gone for a few hours. Was Sagi-sensei's loyalty to Kumo as solid as the Raikage believed, or was he being recruited by Konoha? Fourth, Kura was pondering his, and his 'sister's' origins. None of them really looked the part, and there were no other owl-partnered clans in Kaminari no Kuni... should _they_ be as loyal, considering the suicide mission that the Raikage had given them (Kidnap a main branch Hyuuga? They'd heard horror stories of what had happened the last time... they'd gotten a body to study, but someone from Konoha had been... generous, and also given them some free explosive seals on the body as well...), as Kumo seemed to believe? He doubted it, they were seen as worthless and expendable, it seemed.

It was his fifth train of thought though, that was most prominent in his awareness. Did he want to win? If he won against this Temari, he'd have proven his strategies, yes, but the girl herself seemed somewhat distracted, and only truly relaxed once her brother had killed someone. He would also then have to fight this Uzumaki, and if the name wasn't enough of a warning to leave him be, his performance against Iwa's Marble Maiden was.

He found himself in his customary pose, balanced on one foot on a kunai, facing the Suna kunoichi who held her fan over one shoulder. But the perfect strategy was right there in front of him, with a vast number of contingencies and an insane amount of flexibility. He just hoped he had the means to pull this off.

Temari moved as soon as the Kumo genin did, her fan deflecting his kunai away while it remained closed, then swung open to sever the trailing wire with the chakra sharpened edge. "You won't catch _me_ like that," she boasted, as she returned the favour with a blast of wind that hammered where Kura had been seconds earlier, the young man having slid away on the wire standing taut between the kunai he'd stood on, and another he'd thrown while she deflected the one aimed at her. A quick glance around, revealed the kunai, and numerous connecting wires, all around, although being tight-stretched between the arrayed kunai, she didn't believe they could be used to trap her. That odd trick he used to slide along the wires could get annoying, though, and she grabbed one of the kunai to disrupt the web of wires...

A blinding light and deafening crack later and she was lying against the stadium wall, twitching as she fought to stand. A calm voice spoke next to her, level, but amused. "What do you think of my jutsu?" Kura asked the Suna kunoichi. "I call it my Lightning Step technique. It gives me mobility, and I get to defend myself from anyone fool enough to touch the web. It's going to take a while for your nervous system to realign, so..." He reached out with a red marker and drew a line across her throat. "I win, I guess. Don't feel too bad. It's just the luck of the draw."

In the Kage's box, the 'Kazekage' didn't even twitch. "Another failed tool," he murmured. Was this 'alliance' really worth it? Perhaps if he got the Ichibi another way? No, it was too late to change the plan now. He'd just have to hope that Kabuto could get that Uchiha for him in the confusion...

* * *

**7. Aburame Shino vs 8. Nusuma Fukuro.**

The Aburame seats were filled. The men and women of the clan had gathered to show their support of their young representative, and so sat clustered around his parents and his young sister, too young for her first colony. Shibi and Hotaru kept their eyes on their son, the first male Aburame in generations to be permitted to sign the Mantis Ridge summoning contract.

Shino, for his part, didn't seem bothered by the surveillance of his performance. His coat had been replaced, a longer, better cut one had been given to him, and the staff he'd once used replaced with some new weapons that the Kamakiri-Koseki herself had taught him to use. Between the greatcoat, his sunglasses and his Aburame reserve, it was nearly impossible to tell what he was thinking. The scroll across his back didn't detract from, but rather accented, the image he now gave.

Fukuro looked at him as she performed the same merger trick she had used at the preliminaries, and as the two owl-girls launched into the sky, Shino sighed. He thrust his hands forward, and his new weapons sprang from his sleeves to his hands, the Nijuten Kamakiri. Tenten drooled a little when she saw them, the folded steel elegant in its unmarked simplicity. The blades were similar to those of katanas, but they curved forwards from the hilt, and were only sharp on that inside edge. The blades suddenly turned a dull grey as they were surrounded by stone, and it was quickly obvious that Shino was pouring Earth chakra into them, as his kikaichu colonies spread out in a cloud, crackling as lightning sprang from bug to bug, and Shino took a stance and froze. The blades of his swords were angled down, edge in, with his hands at shoulder height, and his elbows level with his ribs. His feet were wide-set and firmly planted, and his eyes were closed... Shirohime and Fukuro circled silently as Shino waited... and waited... and waited, expressing nigh-infinite patience as he stood there.

Fukuro continued to circle. At first glance she'd thought Shino's stance to be _full_ of openings, but Shirohime apparently felt differently, so the part-avian kunoichi had stepped back, so to speak, and begun a more detailed scrutiny... one that chilled her. He wasn't using his _ears_ to sense his surroundings... somehow he was using that cloud of insects. Well, there was something she could do about that! Signalling her partner, she began to climb, and she started her swoop at the same instant that Shirohime used her wings to start the Fuuton: Great Breakthrough. As the gust of wind forced a wide swath through the cloud of beetles, she was already moving fast, and her silent wings gave her the edge in an area devoid of insects... so why was he moving?... the spark that flickered across in front of her was the last clue. His Kikaichu weren't there to detect anything, they were a decoy from the real detection method, the spark net he'd set them to build, so he could spot when she attacked... mentally, she kicked herself for spending more time drooling over her last opponent than training to meet this one. As the stone-covered blades hit, she was driven from consciousness and the match was done.

Polite applause from the Hyuuga and Aburame seats surprised many, but Shino merely smiled behind his high collar as he put away his swords.

* * *

**9. Hyuuga Hinata vs 10. Hyuuga Neji.**

As Neji strode to the centre of the stadium, his cousin trailing in his wake, as she was fated to do, a niggling moment of doubt surfaced. She had gotten this far after all, and that thought could not and would not be dismissed so easily. Nor could the thought of what she had managed in the preliminaries. Her corrupted version of the Gentle Fist had taken down another ninja, but surely the pure version would triumph...wouldn't it? He ran his Byakugan across his cousin, taking in her leggings, shirt, and that dratted jacket she prized like a blasted engagement ring. As he took the stance that was so familiar, the unstoppable Gentle Fist, he smirked. He could do this.

Hinata stared at her cousin, trying hard to resist the fear that was there inside her. She'd never beaten Hanabi before, her self-doubt kept saying, so how could she beat Neji? Another voice, that sounded a lot like her Naru-kun's, was screaming encouragement at her, though, pushing her forwards to show all that she could do. "_But I have to fight Neji-nii-san... what if I can't beat him?_"

There was a pause as if not even her inner voice could answer that, and then she heard her Naru-kun whisper softly. "_Then you learn from it, pick yourself up and try again... isn't that part of our nindo?_"

The Hyuuga stands were silent. The elders of course supported Neji's traditional style over Hinata's new one, but Hiashi had seen something there that they'd missed. The Gentle Fist was a rigid, defined and codified style that relied on a particular set of manoeuvres, where the Gentle Storm seemed to adapt to the defences raised against it, constantly changing.

As Hayate called "Hajime!", Neji struck first, but with words rather than blows.

"Fate has decreed you lose today," he said, firmly, "and I am just its instrument to put you in your place. After all, how can you win? You have been weak so long, and just because some loser decided to take advantage of your naïve and soft-hearted nature, you run to his side and call it victory. You are weak still, and he is a monster to do this."

As Neji began, at first Hinata felt he was right, and if he'd stuck to insulting _her_, it could have ended differently, as Hinata had been conditioned to believe that she could not defeat her family. But when his target drifted to Naruto... Hinata quietly bit her thumb and reached inside her jacket, swiping as she murmured a release similar to Naruto's: "Fuinjutsu: San Juryoku Fuji: Release."

As Neji called her beloved Naru-kun a monster, she disappeared from sight only to reappear behind him, striking for his tenketsu...

"Kaiten!" he yelled, performing the rotation defence that surprised almost everyone present, as it was considered an exclusively Main House skill. Tenten's whoop of joy and triumph informed Hiashi that the pair's periods of absence had _not _been for typical teenage reasons...

As Neji slowed, a spiralling circle of disturbed ground around him, Hinata was there, just beyond it, unhurt, and 'rushed' in again, resulting in a second Kaiten, before Neji noticed something... both times, she had not channelled her chakra to her hands. Now she did, melding wind and water and...lightning? That wasn't good...

She was there, right in front of him, as he entered the famous Gentle Fist attack, taking it further that anyone knew he could. "Eight Trigrams, 128 palms!" He struck with incredible precision and speed, but wherever he 'hit' she wasn't there, always just a fraction beyond his reach. "Neji-san," she said as his furious assault ceased, for the first time since she'd met him dropping the nii- from his honorific... which actually frightened him a little... "you talk too much."

Her response to him was brutal, swift and merciless... When he struck for her tenketsu again, she met the strike with her own, catching his fingers on her palm. "Gentle Storm: Chakra Shockwave!" As her power rippled up his arm, the wind element ravaging his chakra coils along the path the water element created, and the lightning element dancing along his nerves in its wake, his entire arm simply failed him. There was no control, no style or discipline, no grace, as it simply dropped, useless, to his side, pulling him a fraction off-balance, and her second strike hit his opposite leg, carrying him to the floor. Struggling, he went to re-open his tenketsu with his other hand, but Hinata had it in her grip.

"I wouldn't," she said, firmly but gently. "You need to see Tsunade-sama to deal with this damage, trying to re-open them without mending the chakra coils would give you limited use, but then it would burn those coils out for good." Neji went white. "If you hadn't insulted Naruto-kun," the Hyuuga girl went on as the medics approached and Hayate declared the winner, "you might have beaten me. But you did. He isn't a monster, nii-san. He freed you, and the rest of the Branch House, and you still see something he isn't. He has suffered, but he took strength from it and flew. You chose to be a bird, huddled in a cage that had no door, too scared to fly. Maybe now we can throw away the cage."


	15. Seal 15: Release

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Respect is no-one's birthright, it can only ever be earned.

**Fifteenth Seal: Release.**

Orochimaru was inwardly cursing. His disguise was ridiculously hot, his carefully manipulated puppets were failing him, and to top it all off, Kabuto still hadn't given the signal. He needed more time... Ah, Kankuro... his match was next, so a single gesture to tell him to extend it as long as possible...

Kankuro caught the signal, absorbed its meaning and nodded even as the proctor called for the next match-up. Unfortunately, what neither had considered, as obvious as it may have been, was the differences in signal language between Konoha and Suna...

* * *

**11. Sabaku no Kankuro vs 12. Nusuma Suzume.**

As Suzume began to head towards the stairs, Kankuro put together a rationale, both a public one, and one related to his family's secret mission, for what his father had told him to do. A single 'No' signal like that, he knew since his father had taught him this, meant he should throw the match, so obviously they needed to keep his puppets' new capabilities hidden, which in turn meant they would need them soon.

He leaned over the rail and called out. "Proctor! I forfeit this match! I have no real defences against a genjutsu user of this girl's calibre, so this match would be a waste of precious time."

The tiny Kumo girl looked up at him, then calmly pulled out her sketchbook, found the page with his picture on it and drew a red circle and line across it. Then she returned to the contestants' waiting area.

In the Kage's box, Orochimaru resisted the urge to drive his face into his palm... barely.

* * *

Tenten stared. She didn't have to face anyone in this round, so she had been studying everyone as they fought, and looked carefully at those who won. She had a good eye for weapons, and had perked up when she saw the zanbatou, and even more at the sight of Shino's weapons. Shino had even been willing to let her see them even closer. Before the second round was to begin, the new line-up was tallied and had to be announced, and caterers had already begun to deliver the midday meals. Looking around, she wished Neji had still been here. She saw Naruto and Hinata sharing their meal, a large bento that Hinata had brought and a few cups of instant ramen. She blinked as Shino sat near them eating, sharing some portion of his meal with his kikaichu. That meant all of Team 8 had made it this far. That was a shock, few teams managed that in any Chunin Exams... especially as rookie genin.

The announcement came as Gekkou Hayate spoke into a microphone. Luckily the sickly jonin hadn't tried to clear his throat, or they might have been there all day. "Lords, Ladies, Kage and other observers and shinobi. cough If I can direct your attention to the large board at the end of the Stadium, the results and new match-ups have been determined."

Sure enough, the board displayed the next round's fights, and the match-ups were easily seen. As the winner of the first match, Gaara got a free pass into the third round, something he seemed somewhat upset by. Glaring at anyone who came close, he stalked over to the rail where he sat on a stool made of sand that came from his gourd.

The first match was to be Naruto, and he was facing the Kumo genin called Kura, who seemed at least as good a strategist as Shikamaru. A challenge for the Konoha jinchuuriki, but not an insurmountable one. The second match was Shino against Hinata... something that Team Eight had seen coming. Looking at the board also told them that it was very possible that Naruto and Hinata could be fighting each other, not an event that the couple were looking forward to. The last match of the second round was much less controversial, with Tenten facing the Kumo genjutsu genin, Suzume. Looking at each other, Team Eight, the only intact Team to reach this point, nodded, and put their left fists together. Naruto led off.

"We seek and scout, and fight with our very lives for those we love," he intoned, a solemn note in his voice that their fellow genin, even Gaara, took note of and looked around to see what they were doing. "We are Team Eight, and we are one."

Hinata took up the chant. "We aid and protect, and our strength is others' as much as our own," she said, equally solemn. "We are Team Eight, and we give our all."

Shino spoke next, the solemn tone seemed to fit him far better than the other two. "We scatter and swarm, and give of ourselves for each other. We are Team Eight, and we keep our word."

Together they finished it. "We are strong alone, and stronger together, and that strength grows by the hour. We are Team Eight, and we always will be." Finally, they lowered their hands and nodded to each other.

Not that far away, Kakashi heard them, and smiled. He was sitting with Team Seven, who had also heard the declaration... Team Eight didn't seem to be trying to keep it secret, anyway, so a number of people, including the various judges and proctors, heard it... and beneath his mask, the Copycat Ninja smiled. If those three didn't make chunin, he would go hunting for the reason why.

Sasuke glared, not at anyone in particular, but he glared nonetheless. The inoffensive section of wall that was the victim of his attention ignored him, as was to be expected. Deep in his mind a faint and foreign whisper hissed at him that this power should have been his, that he would need it so he should take it, or find a way to... He shook his head, clearing away the thoughts as he pushed them into a mental corner. Apparently the third ring of seals _was_ working, making him aware that the voice of greed and envy was in this case foreign to him. Yes, he wanted power and revenge, but more than anything, he wanted the freedom to choose, or it was all empty. What price had to be paid for this power? Where did it come from? Why did it exist, and why did he feel he needed a long, hot shower with lots of scrubbing when it brushed against his thoughts? Savagely, he devoured his meal and looked at, rather than glared in the general direction of, his team-mates. They didn't have the same bond as Team Eight, but they could build something.

The meal over, the proctors signalled for the first two fighters to step into the stadium.

* * *

Hiruzen had finally nailed it down. Keeping himself out from under whatever influence Danzou had been wielding was doing wonders for him, and a new visitor to the Kage's box, seated on the opposite side from the 'Kazekage', was giving him good news.

"I've had a look at that Iwa girl, and her sensei was willing to allow it," Tsunade told him. "Her condition was a result of a childhood trauma from before Ishiguma adopted her. Apparently he found her in a very interesting place, and couldn't 'bear' to leave her to die. Since she was all stone, specifically marble, for so many years, no-one knew her hair was red until we washed the marble dust out twenty minutes ago."

"Red?" Hiruzen noted. "Any particular _shade_ of red?"

Tsunade grinned. "Uzumaki Red. He found the Hyaku Hoseki bloodline lying under a bush in Uzu no Kuni. If that gets back to Iwa, they're both doomed," she said.

Hiruzen nodded. Good news indeed. He needed to speak with the Uzumaki clan head after this...

* * *

**Uzumaki Naruto vs Ginkumo Kura.**

Naruto had seen the previous fights of this Kura, and knew about his two techniques so far, the Cat's Cradle and the Lightning Step. Either alone was impressive, but both together would be killer. Sliding out his claws, and charging in, he attacked, the best defence he could think of was to keep his opponent too busy to throw around his kunai...

Up close and fighting hard was _not_ Kura's preferred method of combat, but he knew the tune and could dance to it. A kunai in each hand, parrying like crazy, and ducking and dodging as much as he could... he could see the scratches and grooves in the metal as he blocked... this was annoying. Of his mind's five paths, a trick he'd used for years, three were devoted to his defence, while the other two tried frantically to formulate a decent plan for victory. He'd seen the gravity seals, so if his opponent released those, he'd have no choices left. He saw the flaring of his opponent's nose... the clones he could use wouldn't work, then. As he used he Kawarimi no Jutsu to switch with a boulder, he took the few seconds he needed to catch his breath even as Naruto dragged his claws from the stone. His mind clicked, and Kura charged in, putting himself on the offensive: Two parts for attack, one for defence, one for analysis, and one for planning... As the kunai and wires lashed around and about he saw a hand seal being formed and paled...

"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"Naruto stood before him, all fifty of him, and all ready to fight. There was just no way he had enough wire or kunai to deal with all of them, and his opponent could, and likely would, use the Substitution technique to bounce around the field... Uzumaki had his own equivalent of his Lightning Step, now, and worse: he wasn't even sweating, unlike the Kumo strategist, who was physically exhausted. He had one shot, one guess, and then he'd be swarmed... He raised his right hand above his head, and the kunai tumbled to the ground as he opened his fingers. "I yield the match," he declared. "Given time, I might be able to be you, with the right resources and preparation, but here and now... no chance."

Naruto walked with the young man to the stairs as the proctor called the winner. As the two of them entered the door way, they passed Hinata and Shino on their way to the stadium floor. As Naruto paused to hug his Hinata-hime tight, murmuring his love for her, and shook his other team-mates hand, Kura saw the bond... one not unlike his with his 'sisters', and knew where Naruto's weakness lay. But he caught Naruto's eye as he did, and the vicious promise that lay behind it. Hurting, or the thousand and one kami forbid, killing one of this shinobi's precious people would destroy the man... but _no-one _wanted to deal with the monster that would replace him... as for the thought of killing the girl... Kura shuddered. Might as well set fire to the world and be done. He spotted Fukuro and their sensei, and approached them quietly. This was important intelligence for their mission... the Raikage must want them dead.

In the stands, a ninja in the ANBU cloak and mask slipped a little closer to where Team Seven sat, and glanced around. This might be a problem. He was good, but was he good enough to face "Copycat" Kakashi, "Illusion Queen" Kurenai and "Oh No Not Her, Please Anyone But HER" Anko? Not without a major distraction, and setting off his signal would be a dead give-away, an invitation for them to hit him hard... He needed to wait...

* * *

**Aburame Shino vs Hyuuga Hinata.**

Shino knew he wouldn't have much time. Hinata had developed her Gentle Storm even further than he'd have dreamed possible if she'd integrated a _third_ element into the style. He unleashed the full force of his colonies the second Hayate said "Hajime!" He channelled earth chakra through them, allowing the kikaichu to become far stronger and sturdier than any insect should be and rushed in. Hinata's weakness used to be that she had smaller reserves and less endurance than others, but if she was training under a gravity seal, that changed things... especially since he didn't remember her re-activating it after her last fight. Still, he had a few surprises of his own... As he swept his fist around, Hinata jumped back enough to avoid him, but when his kikaichu formed a 'fist' in the shadow of his own, passing just behind and outside his own swing, she was caught by surprise and struck in the ribs.

"Unff," she grunted, and then spoke up. "Good one Shino... What do you call it?"

He pushed his glasses back up his nose. "I was thinking, Bug Shadow Boxing, but it doesn't _feel_ right. I'll get back to you." She nodded as she took a new stance, loosely based on the Gentle Fist's Eight Trigrams, and Shino's eyes widened behind his glasses, taking in every detail, including her just-activated Byakugan... which meant that his first flurry had been avoided without the heightened perception of the Hyuuga doujutsu. As she began to spin and strike, apparently wildly to those in the stands, he felt his kikaichu fall, one by one, until all he could feel were his two queens. The kikaichu of the Aburame were somewhat unique that way. In that queens could co-exist if their hosts were strong and focused enough. He didn't feel the other insects die though, he realised as they fell. Hinata was reaching out in an incredibly precise and focused application of her chakra and tapping at the tiny beetles' chakra _across empty space_ up to fifteen feet of distance, to _knock out_ his kikaichu without killing them... Something no other Hyuuga would have managed. As he took a half step back, she was suddenly right _there_ thrusting her palm against his solar plexus and letting him feel the chakra she could have unleashed into him.

"Proctor!" he called out. "I yield. That last blow could have delivered sufficient force to injure me severely, _and _destroy my colonies and queens. I have lost."

He bowed politely to his team-mate. "Congratulations, Hinata-chan," he said. "Now go hug your fiancee while I gather my kikaichu."

* * *

The Aburame were impressed, both by Shino's taijutsu modification, and by his team-mate's concern for his kikaichu, rendering the insects incapacitated where a little more force and chakra would have eliminated them completely. Team Eight was certainly a team to keep an eye on.

Nor were they alone in this regard, with Hyuuga Hiashi sitting straighter and more proud of his eldest daughter with every second... although not so proud as to _not_ keep an eye on the stands as much as the stadium. That would have been quite silly after he'd received that message from Hizashi's old team-mate. A simple origami crane didn't seem like much of a warning, but the grey paper with the white backing was one nonetheless, so he watched the failed Kumo ninja, not too far away...

* * *

"Hsst! Sakura!" Naruto hissed, catching the pink-haired girl's attention. As she approached him, warily, she was astounded as he sketched a quick bow. "Thanks for the tip-off about the CRA," he told her. "In return, I've got a suggestion for you. Think, carefully, and answer honestly... Do you still want Sasuke to notice you?" Her glare was answer enough, he thought. "Thought so. Now, you watch Sasuke more than almost anyone else I know, so think: does he like fan-girls?"

Sakura shook her head, and glanced over her shoulder. Sasuke had been... distracted lately, likely by that curse mark. He hadn't noticed their conversation, and if they kept the volume low, he wouldn't. "Of course not," she hissed, well aware that her crush considered her part of that horde, just smarter.

"What do all these girls have in common, what are they doing, that he can't stand?" Naruto's questions were really hitting home, and Sakura was getting uncomfortable about this line of questioning.

"They constantly chase him and praise him... he doesn't want that." Now she thought about it, that was pretty much behaviour that guaranteed them not to be noticed by him.

"So you should do something different. I'm not saying ditch him or forget about him," he held up both hands as she clenched her fists. "But it looks to me that if you really want him to choose _you_, you have to make _him_ chase after _you_. He respects strength, get stronger, and show him how you did it. Share what you learn, without asking, and maybe he'll do the same. See ya!" He darted away as Hinata came up the stairs, hugging her and giving her that light affectionate kiss that Sakura envied...

Looking over at Sasuke, she made up her mind... but no-one was _ever_ going to learn that she'd taken relationship advice from _Naruto._

* * *

Tsunade nodded as Jiraiya stepped past her. Whoever that was in the Kage's box, they were wearing dead flesh over their own, part of a jutsu Orochimaru had been experimenting with before he fled the village. Jiraiya on the other was shaking his head. There had been no sign of Danzou for the entire day, which meant that he knew something was up, and wanted it to take place... a damning attitude. Making sure the Hokage was never alone was a good plan... but keeping it subtle enough to not set off their former team-mate's warning bells was trickier...

* * *

**Nusuma Suzume vs Yanagi Tenten.**

As the young weapons mistress leaped backwards, her hands filled with kunai that she'd launched blindly in the general direction of her opponent, she was remembering the training her dad (adopted as she may be, that was who he was to her) had given her, along with several pieces of advice. The first piece was already in use: "Close only counts with horseshoes and exploding tags" he'd said, so exploding tags covered the kunai she'd just thrown and the resulting gouts of dirt and rock and smoke obscured the area. The second item was next as she hurled packets of glass marbles and fragile bells across a large area inside the smoke, building a quick picture with the sounds that came from within as the Kumo genin was struck by either, and sending more kunai in. Finally his last adage was put to use: "There is no overkill, only 'open fire' and 'I have no ammunition left'."

"Twin Rising Dragons!" Her two storage scrolls began to release weapon after weapon after weapon towards her foe, still unseen, as Tenten's leap continued to carry her upwards. The dirt and dust was settling by the time Tenten landed from her jump, and the masses of steel had formed a very sharp and dangerous web with the other girl at the centre, scratches and cuts here and there, including a kunai in one thigh and a chain-and-javelin through the opposite arm, pinned to the ground by her own clothes, a panicked expression on her face.

As the proctor called the match, Suzume began breathing again. The girl had not held back, and hadn't given her _time _to use a genjutsu and rightly so... if she'd given her even an _instant_ of breathing room, Suzume's most dangerous genjutsu, the Sen Ten Yume, or Thousand Heavenly Dreams, would have had her. What made it so dangerous was that the victim didn't _want_ to break it... She had been over-matched and overwhelmed in what may have been the only way for the Konoha kunoichi to win. She noted that _this_ one was the one who hung around with that Hyuuga boy from earlier. If they were strong like this as genin aiming for chunin, what must their _jonin_ be capable of. Maybe Kura was right... again... dammit.

* * *

The 'Kazekage' frowned beneath his hat-and-veil. Something was wrong. That mix-up with the signals had been a horrible oversight, but not one he could do anything about. Outwardly, he was a little upset. After all, Suna's monster was the only genin left, and there weren't as many people here to witness his victory as he might have liked. His old team-mates were _both_ here as well, that blasted experiment not only didn't die, but got so strong it wasn't funny, and had found team-mates that seemed to match his own potential... worse, although he'd felt the chakra of the Ichibi clearly in Gaara's slaughter of that Iwa boy, he'd not even felt a flicker of the Kyuubi... a worrisome thing as it meant that the experiment was that strong without it. He'd not have believed anyone could create that many shadow clones... even the Yondaime's limit had been twenty or so.

He glanced towards the other spectators. This had never been intended to get to the semi-finals, and as the board revealed the next match, Orochimaru nearly howled in frustration. With no Uchiha, this would be a waste of time unless he could destroy Konoha. His original plans were trashed. If Kabuto didn't give the signal, he would... and to Jigoku with the costs...

* * *

**Sabaku no Gaara vs Uzumaki Naruto.**

Gaara rode his sand, a disc of it forming beneath him and lifting him down to the stadium floor, while Naruto jumped over the railing, dragging his claws down the wall, striking six trails of sparks as he went, gouging shallow furrows in the wall as he went. As they took their positions, Gaara turned to his opponent. "Mother is happy, she will finally have your blood, so we mustn't waste a single drop..."

The Suna jinchuuriki's killing intent sky-rocketed, an immense emotional pressure that everyone in the stands felt, a terrible, inhuman hatred for everything, a presence that would happily light the fires just to see the world burn. No-one was immune, even Orochimaru felt it, and for a brief period of rational sanity, wondered if this plan had not been thought out very well. As the monstrous feeling washed outwards, those trained to _leaned_ into it, for lack of a better term, flaring their own chakra within themselves to resist it.

Naruto ignored it, bolstered from within by the Kyuubi, inured to such a presence by dint of having one inside him already. A vulpine grin crossed his face as he released his gravity seal and discarded his weights, leaning his scroll against the wall. Then he stood taking his low, loose stance, but with a difference to it. His claws were out, and low touching the ground with his hands open, palm upwards, as though holding a sphere the size of a baseball. His elbows were bent as he braced for combat, and his eyes were on his opponent as Hayate yelled "Hajime!" and ran for it...

Gaara's sand lashed out, faster than anyone could believe, a lance of it thrusting to pierce Naruto's side, but the boy slashed across the incoming sand with his claws, and called "Arashi no Tsume! Claws of the Storm!" as he did, and the resulting spray scattered the sandy spear wide as the blond jinchuuriki spun around what was left of the tendril and lashed out at Gaara's arm. A wall of sand sprang up between them, spraying back onto Gaara at the three points of impact, but holding, and spikes shot from the wall to attack Naruto. Taking a few hits to the arms, hits he ignored, pushing the pain to one side, Naruto struck again, and again, and when the sand countered him, attacked those.

The red-haired jinchuuriki was in heaven, the voice inside him cackling with insane glee as the other boy's blood flew, but the injuries closed to quickly and the exchange of blows was taking too long. He tapped into the yellow chakra of the monster inside him, just a little, to make the sand faster and struck, spiralling several tendrils around his enemy an trapping him in a great mass of sand. "Sand Coffin!" his harsh whisper, somehow clearly audible to everyone in the stands, announced his enemy's fate, and every one of Naruto's friends and enemies, rivals and allies stood and watched closer.

Orochimaru smiled with glee. Almost time, then... he could wait a few minutes to let the shock and despair on Hiruzen's face take hold...

Hiruzen lifted one hand, wishing he could stop this, but by the time he acted...

Hiashi paled, and Hanabi with him. Hinata would be devastated...

Kurenai had her fist in her mouth and was barely holding back tears and screams...

Kabuto savoured the brat's imminent demise, ignoring his target no ten feet away...

There were only three people who did not react in the slightest, who could see what was happening. Kakashi... frozen to the spot with shock... Sasuke... fighting the roar of the curse mark to take vengeance for Naruto's death... and Hinata.

The girl stared at the sand her fiance had disappeared into, and whispered. "You promised me, Naruto. You know our nindo. Keep it."

In the stadium below, Gaara closed his outstretched hand crying out with joy and triumph as he did. "Sand Burial!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

This is likely the most evil version of a Cliffhanger no Jutsu ever. To that end I shall invoke two aspects of wisdom from an author to the readers.

Item 1: A dead author is unable to resolve the seeming problems in said Cliffhanger. Please don't kill me.

Item 2: Naruto is the star of this story alongside Hinata. This was simply the best point to cut the one massive chapter into two.

Thank you for reading, and until the next seal is released, CuO!


	16. Seal 16: Invade

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing me.

**Sixteenth Seal: Invade.**

The sand compressed as Gaara closed his hand, intent on crushing the ninja inside, and a look of unholy glee decorated the Suna jinchuuriki's face for a moment... then the sand exploded outward in a spiral, spraying over the stadium floor, revealing Naruto, his coat shredded and his bonemetal extruded. The row of spikes along his spine had edges to them now, and from his elbows emerged a blade each, four inches long, of the material that now made up his skeleton, and the spikes from his knees and shoulder-blades were also edged, more like knives than spikes. He'd retracted his claws and plated over his knuckles, and every bone in his body, including those that stuck out of it, _hummed_ with barely contained power as he held above his head twin balls of blue spiralling chakra, visible to any who looked, driving back the sand in an absolutely impossible, yet impressively incontrovertible manner.

Jiraiya collapsed back into his seat, breathing a sigh of relief. "Forgot that I taught him that," he muttered, making himself the immediate target of his friend _and_ his sensei.

"You taught him the _Rasengan_," Tsunade gritted out between her teeth, "and you, what was it again, _forgot_ that you had? Was that because you knew I'd tear you a new one if you'd told me?"

Jiraiya seemed surprised. "You'd have stopped at one? Maybe I should have told you then..." Tsunade was still overjoyed that Naruto was alive, so she didn't hit the perverted sannin too hard... just enough that he cratered the wall behind them.

All across the stands, and around the stadium there were people who saw this as a miracle... Konohamaru and his friends, Hiashi and Hanabi, Team Seven, Team Ten, Team Nine... the list was much bigger than anyone could imagine...

Orochimaru couldn't understand it... how did the child do this? He needed to give the signal soon, but with the other sannin nearby... the Sound Four were in place, even if he still didn't know where the Uchiha was.

* * *

Down in the stadium, Gaara stared, while in the back of his mind, Shukaku the Ichibi ranted. The Sand Burial hadn't killed the boy... why not? If he was that strong, his blood would be perfect to feed to mother, but if he was that strong, how was Gaara supposed to get to the blood?

Naruto breathed deep as everyone stared, his mind darting back to when he'd asked Jiraiya what he could teach him... and Jiraiya had shown him his first rasengan. A jutsu of the Yondaime Hokage's invention, albeit an incomplete one. Now he was glad he had... his bonemetal may have been able to take the pressure Gaara's Sand Burial subjected him to, but the rest of him wasn't quite so sturdy. As the sand had closed around him, Naruto had poured his chakra into his bones, along with the wind and lightning elements, creating a resonance that agitated the sand, keeping it soft around himself... not that he thought of it in those terms exactly, of course... and had then forced not one, but _two_ rasengan into existence. Now, as the crowd came to its feet roaring with excitement, Naruto again extended his claws, letting the plating on his knuckles draw back into his skeleton, absorbing the rasengan into them as they pierced each, blending the destructive jutsu with the wind and lightning already present. The result was a constantly shifting, corona of blue chakra around the claws, and as Naruto attacked, he roared out the new move's name: "Rasenjutsu! Uzumaki no Tsume, Claws of the Maelstrom!"

Gaara had not been scared like this before. No-one lived when he buried them. 'Mother' always got her blood... but this one was different. This boy, a year younger than he, had survived. He did not show fear like everyone else did, he did not hate... and Gaara had not killed him. That was impossible. It kept coming back to that. The monster inside him wanted to kill and to murder and slaughter, while Gaara just wanted to run away... Placing his hands before him as Naruto charged, Gaara enacted the only genjutsu he'd ever been taught.

"Forced Sleep Jutsu!" As Gaara toppled over, Orochimaru acted, smoke bombs concealing the Kage's box with massive clouds, a huge distraction... and the signal to begin his invasion. His agents enacted their jutsu... Kabuto went to snatch his target... The Sound Four threw aside their disguises and leaped to their places, ready to throw up the barrier... and chaos reigned all over.

* * *

Shukaku emerged at once, a massive outpouring of sand, yellow chakra and malice, and Naruto paused as the massive monster took form, lifting Gaara up and away, barely holding his Maelstrom Claws technique in place. He snarled and slashed at the biju's face before it was beyond his reach, to incredible effect as the monster dropped its container and its face seemingly exploded from the discharge of the jutsu. The pain that rocketed through Naruto, a bone-deep, searing agony, told the young shinobi that this jutsu had a terrible cost. If he didn't heal like he did, that would likely have destroyed his chakra coils for good. Even now, as Naruto felt his bonemetal retreat back into his flesh. He had to mend, but he didn't have time, and that thing's face was already reforming as the sand poured into place...

* * *

On the rooftop of the stadium, Orochimaru held the Hokage by the neck as a second explosion destroyed the now obscured Kage's box, and as the smoke billowed across the roof behind him, his elite Sound Four took up positions at the corners of the roof and raised the barrier as he'd instructed, each including a second, smaller barrier to protect them from any one inside the first. This was marvellous, today was finally going right... and then Sarutobi Hiruzen dispersed in a burst of white smoke as three figures emerged from the cloud of smoke that was even now rapidly dissipating. Hiruzen stood at the front in his black silk and steel battle armour, while Jiraiya took the left flank and Tsunade the right, and the renegade sannin ground his teeth together. He'd been hoping to play with Sarutobi-sensei a little, but these two changed the whole game completely. His hands began to make the signs for a jutsu he'd hoped to use later, and he hissed the technique's name: "Edo Tensei: Impure resurrection!"

He didn't expect what happened next. As the first coffin appeared, Tsunade saw the writing on it and was right there, shattering it with her chakra-enhanced strength before it could fully manifest, even as Jiraiya did the same thing to the second with a rasengan. The third coffin, Sarutobi began to act, but paused when Jiraiya laughed at the name on the front. Even as the coffin opened, the other two sannin turned to Orochimaru.

"That was a big mistake," Orochimaru gloated. "The Fourth Hokage, the greatest Hokage..." he paused as the 'sacrifice' tumbled out of the coffin unharmed. "What?" The look of shock on his face as his 'perfect' jutsu failed, had him enough off balance that Jiraiya had the time to explain.

"You want to know how it failed." It wasn't a question. "All I can tell you is that the Shinigami doesn't like those who try to steal from him, and Minato's soul was sealed inside the Shinigami's stomach. If you had summoned him, you would also have brought the Shinigami, but the Shinigami would not have been bound to your will, and might have been a little... upset."

* * *

The Suna ninja beyond the walls received the signal and the Oto summoners among them began the summoning. In short order, five massive vipers were slithering towards Konoha's defences, with the armies of Suna and Oto behind them.

* * *

The hidden infiltrators sprang into action at the signal, starting to slam out a forced sleep genjutsu... and that's where things began to go downhill. Without someone on the inside to modify the records, as Kabuto could have if he'd managed to pass undetected, they'd been spotted right away, and each had been 'tagged' by a particular ANBU. As they began their hand-seals, one-by-one they were hit hard, and taken down, as they focused on the targets that would have crippled Konoha's recovery and left the village with no-one to turn to... except for the one person not present... Shimura Danzou...

* * *

Hyuuga Hiashi's Byakugan had been active at the time that the would-be assassin made his move, as had Hanabi's, so the genjutsu would have had no effect on them, but he was surprised when a man in a Kumo headband struck down the apparent ANBU who was performing it, to the shock of the three Kumo students with him. Sighing, the jonin-sensei of the Kumo team snarled at them. "I'll explain later, and give you all a choice," he said in the low voice he often used when something mattered. "Until then, defend the Leaf, especially the Hyuuga. I know about the 'secret mission' Raikage-baka gave you, but bear in mind he is not here, I am... and so are you..."

The grey, crane-embroidered cloak that whirled about the man's shoulders told Hiashi everything he needed to know of this man's identity, even as he raced away to battle...

* * *

Ishiguma Daikenshi stood in the courtyard of the hospital, with his daughter on one flank and Koshi on the other. The thought that Otome was actually related to that boy who'd defeated her, forcing her to recklessly fuel the huge amounts of chakra that the Iron Bear required and _accidentally_ giving her an off-switch for her kekkei genkai, was nothing short of ludicrous, far too unbelievable to be anything but the truth. As the Oto and Suna infiltrators arrived. He made a choice. "Never liked Iwa winters anyway," he said, taking the same fighting stance he'd drilled into his daughter. "Maybe I'll get a chance to spar with that Maito Gai..."

These invaders would never realise what hit them...

* * *

Naruto knew a bit about genjutsu, thanks to Kurenai-sensei. He was no great shakes at it himself, but penetrating them... with his enhanced senses it was far easier to notice them, as almost no-one ever thought to do anything about the sense of smell, and when they did, they were limited by their own senses. But the self-enforced sleep that Gaara had used was a problem. Even as new as he was to fuinjutsu, he could tell that Gaara's seal was faulty, that it 'leaked' far too much of the Ichibi's emotions into its host. There were only three ways to win this... The first was unpleasant: kill the host. If he had to, he could, but Gaara had probably had as much choice in this matter as Naruto had, so that was a last resort. Especially as it wouldn't immediately disperse Shukaku... The second option would be to fix the seal, but Naruto had no idea where to begin with that. The third option was to somehow wake up the host, since he apparently had to be asleep to release the monster.

The blond jinchuuriki knew of three ways to dispel a genjutsu, too. "_Strange how things seem to happen that way at times,_" he mused. Agitation of the chakra would work, but it looked like most of his chakra was in the monster... that could take a while. Taking down the chakra anchors in a pulse of chakra was a good one, especially for wide area genjutsu, and Naruto was able to shred those over a much bigger area than anyone else could have dreamed of. Then there was the third way, the way he felt would work best. Physical pain. Naruto drew back his fist and broke Gaara's trance... and his nose.

The scream of despair as the Ichibi scattered caused everyone in the stadium to flinch, even as Gaara's siblings appeared beside him, ready, but certainly _not_ eager to fight Naruto, even as the red-head stared at the blood pouring down his face into his hands. His own blood... that was meant to be on the inside. He looked up at the younger, saner jinchuuriki and asked "Why?"

A soft flare, just a touch of the red chakra, and Naruto turned away. "Because I _know_," Naruto said as his eyes searched the stands for Hinata... and found her just as the Suna Jonin, Baki, was hammered into the wall by her Gentle Storm. "If it weren't for her," he pointed her out, "then we wouldn't be having this talk... because Konohagakure no Sato would have been the first thing destroyed. But she is here, so I am here, and I have found those precious to me, because I am precious to them." With that, Naruto was gone in a blur, grabbing his scroll as he disappeared, reappearing where Hinata and Shino were as he swallowed a soldier pill, and then all three were away.

* * *

Sasuke glared at the white-haired man who had him in his grip. Kabuto's mask had fallen away when he'd grabbed Sasuke, and the scalpel held to his throat was a threat that Kakashi couldn't ignore... as the renegade medic pressed it against the Uchiha boy's throat, the curse mark hissed its terrible promises and Sasuke was, considering his situation, hard pressed to resist the blandishments. He tensed, ready to move at his sensei's word... when a kunai was jammed into the older 'genin's' knee from the side and twisted so the very bones themselves would hold it in place by a girl who had seemed to be sleeping, a girl with pink hair, and as Kabuto flinched, the pressure was off Sasuke's neck, and he substituted with a chair using kawarimi, wincing as the curse-mark tried to pour the black chakra into the jutsu. Sakura had just struck and jumped back as Kabuto swiped barely slicing at her dress, as the silk parted, dropping the front flap to the ground... but it was just the silk. A sudden hiss drew the renegade ninja's eyes to the kunai... and the exploding tag on it... with barely enough time to realise he could not avoid this.

The explosion blew his leg to shreds.

* * *

Alone against the old man, Orochimaru might have won. Against either of the other sannin the fight would have been harder, but he'd have managed. Against all three, he didn't stand a chance, and that barrier kept him in as much as it kept others out. Twisting away from Tsunade's assaults while avoiding Jiraiya's and Sarutobi-sensei's ninjutsu assaults was wearing him down faster than it was them, as he had to stay three times as active as they did, and his physical stamina was beginning to falter. To make matters worse, if he did have his followers drop the barrier, he'd gain four allies, but his enemies would gain so many more.

The ANBU around the barrier were looking hard for a way through, and drawing a blank, as Team Eight and their sensei appeared on the edge of the roof. "What progress?" the jonin sensei asked.

"None," the ANBU captain spat, his rabbit-shape mask muffling his vitriol. "The barrier prevents the passage of both chakra and physical objects by destroying them, and even continues underneath the tiles." He stomped on the roof in explanation. "In theory, there's a gap, but we can't take advantage of it..." He paused as Naruto lifted the bright blue orb of a Rasengan, even as he shook the sand out of his sandals. "I said that won't work..."

Naruto's grin had him halt in his tracks. "Oh, this isn't for the barrier," the genin said, and slammed the destructive jutsu into the roof by the barrier's corner. The massive detonation of chakra undermined the roof, and it collapsed out and away from the barrier, carrying with it the youths who were maintaining the barrier at this corner, who looked like siamese twins, and panicked as they passed through the very deadly barrier they were holding in place...

The death of Ukon/Sakon was quick and clean, and the barrier fell. As the Oto elites were quickly swarmed under by ANBU, Orochimaru grimaced. This was not working... he had to get away and formulate a new strategy. As he shunshinned away, shedding his skin as a distraction and decoy, he vowed again that Konoha would fall.

* * *

Hiruzen looked around as the reports came in. It was a depressing picture. "I need messengers, guards for the civilians, and something to stop those blasted snake summons," he snarled once the reports came in. Team Eight, glanced at each other and smiled. "If the ANBU, jonin and other shinobi can hold out, we have those covered," Hinata said, and as one, the three genin swung their scrolls from their backs. Jiraiya recognised the seals on the summons contracts he'd helped create, but he didn't know what had agreed to be bound to them, only the terms of that binding. The third one... that _was_ the Mantis Ridge contract. There were no finer guards among the summons than they. "Aburame Shino, bearer of the Mantis Ridge contract. We can handle the need for guards for the civilian bunkers."

"Hyuuga Hinata, bearer of the Squirrel Hollow contract. No finer messengers exist."

Naruto surprised them, as most would expect him to summon Toads, like Jiraiya, or foxes, like his prisoner. However, the boy had discovered that the seal on his belly prevented him from connecting to any foxes in such a manner, so he'd gone a little further afield for his summons...

"Uzumaki Naruto, bearer of the Mongoose Hill contract. Leave the snakes to us."

The Hokage nodded. "Then you know what to do. Go do it." As the three teens began their summoning, Hiruzen shook his head, and waved Tsunade over. "I'm getting too old for this," he complained. "I need you to succeed me."

* * *

The invasion was done, a total failure. The summoned vipers had reached the wall to find a young man and twice their own number of mongoose summons waiting for them. With intact walls and ready defences, a continued attack was suicidal. As the Oto nin started to abandon the Suna to their fate, a wave of surrenders began. With the squirrels as messengers, co-ordination was good, and the mantis guards, along with the shinobi, made certain of the safety of the civilians. Stalking into his camp, Orochimaru wondered what exactly had gone wrong, where had he made his mistake... and he remembered a day, long ago, when Kabuto had sent him a boy who healed rapidly, to experiment on... His rage focused to a pinpoint hatred.

* * *

When Danzou and his ROOT soldiers emerged from his hidden base, he had not expected Hiruzen and the ANBU to be waiting for him. "Shimura Danzou, you are hereby under arrest for treason, to be exact, concealing resources and hindering the operations of Konoha shinobi in a time of war," Hiruzen announced.

Danzou took refuge in his words, sweeping out with his stolen eye. "No such state of war was declared." It seemed reasonable... until Hyuuga Hiashi struck several of Danzou's tenketsu, shutting off the flow of chakra to Danzou's 'crippled' eye and arm, and his genjutsu fell apart.

"An invasion by foreign shinobi obviates the need for such a declaration, absent invitations and authorisations from the Hokage... and they didn't have anything like that," Hiruzen said, turning to Ibiki. "He's high risk. Keep his chakra sealed, and his movements restricted. No visitors without the signature of the Hokage."

* * *

The genin from the exams were assembled in the stadium. The prisoners from Suna had been interrogated, and those who actually had some authority had been negotiated with. Jiraiya had looked at the Suna jinchuuriki's seal, and modified it, making it more secure against the biju's presence. The only way the insane demon could influence Gaara now was if he let it.

They were presented to the Sandaime Hokage who had gone over the reports and information from the Exams, as well as the battle afterwards. Suna's Kazekage had, by their own medical experts' analysis, been dead for over three months before they'd found his body, so Orochimaru had tricked them, and Hiruzen did not press them overmuch for reparations, save for a free hand today. The Kumo group were looking somewhat lost without their sensei, and the Iwa team had a glaring absence. Those who'd been in the hospital for various reasons were present as well, and now the Hokage was passing his judgement.

"It has been decided as part of the negotiations and peace settlements, that none of the Suna genin here today shall be promoted to chunin at this time. Instead, they will be returned to their home under escort. They are forbidden entry to Hi no Kuni for a period of two years. Of the other participants, we have come to our decisions. First, we raise Kyoseki Koshi to the rank of chunin, the only shinobi from beyond Konoha to achieve that result today. Next, from Konoha itself, we promote Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto. Congratulations to all of you."

Hiruzen took a deep breath. "Further, I take the chance on this occasion to step down and allow my successor, the Godaime Hokage, to take my place. It seems I shall be known as the only Kage to ever retire... twice." He reached up and removed his hat. "Senju Tsunade, I give you this burden, and the full authority therein, to guard our precious home, and the even more precious people who make it so."

As the female sannin accepted the hat, she muttered through gritted teeth. "You _do_ remember I only agreed with this because you threatened to give the job to Jiraiya?"

* * *

Rumours flew through the land of the Chunin Exams in Konoha, and the invasion. As more and more heard it and passed it on, it grew, as such stories do. In Iwa, a nervous Koshi, who had been unwilling to leave his family, had been carefully interrogated about why he was the only one from Iwa to be promoted, and the only member of his team to return at all. To say the Tsuchikage was not pleased by the results would have been an understatement, but he could hardly punish the only chunin promoted by the Konoha judges. At least he wasn't alone...

In Kumogakure no Sato, a very upset Raikage was left to glare at the hole in his wall that he'd thrown the messenger through, a hole that had not been there before the messenger was thrown. The news that a promising team of genin had defected, partly because of that secret mission to acquire the Byakugan, but largely because the 'loyal' jonin-sensei _he'd_ handpicked to guard the shinobi he'd had raised from abducted children, had actually been a deep-cover spy and infiltrator. He was furious... "Send me the jinchuuriki teams," he barked out, "I have a job for them..."

* * *

Kurenai looked at the stack of ryo she'd won... she'd forgotten about this bet, placed to show her confidence in her team... She'd forgotten the bookie quoting her thousand to one odds, and now that she had it... what was she going to do with 50,000 ryo?

* * *

Hyuuga Hiashi looked at the paperwork he'd been filling out, and nodded. He didn't like it, but it was the only way to do this. If he delayed it too long, certain interfering people might take it into their heads to try again... He signed the papers and applied his seal and infused it with his chakra signature. Two weeks... it was not a long time, but perhaps it would be enough.

* * *

Kabuto opened his eyes, and found himself secured to a hospital bed. He could feel the restraints on his arms and his left leg... the fools. He idly wondered why they hadn't bound the other leg as he began to channel his chakra scalpels to the free limb... only to realise it wasn't there. A tall scarred figure entered the room... Morino Ibiki.

"I think you might have a few things we're interested in knowing, Yakushi Kabuto," he said slowly, as the white-haired ninja's stomach sank. "And trust me, you _will_ want to share them with us..."

* * *

Team Eight, including their now-wealthy sensei, sat on the top of the Hokage Monument, on the Fourth Hokage's head, watching as stoneworkers and sculptors began to measure and sketch to begin work on the next face to decorate this mountain. They were all alive, they were all chunin, and life was good. Naruto held Hinata close, and looked around as the sun set over Konoha, and daydreamed of the challenges of tomorrow. After all, Orochimaru was still out there, and he was hardly the only person or group that had to be dealt with... but for now...

Hiashi cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the new chunin and their sensei, nodding to the latter, who grinned as her students approached the Head of the Hyuuga clan. When he spoke, Hiashi didn't beat around the bush.

Naruto's answer echoed across the village.

"THE WEDDING IS IN HOW LONG?!"


	17. Seal 17: Unite

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. If love were distance, the Universe isn't big enough; if love were time, Eternity's not long enough.

**Seventeenth Seal: Unite.**

Naruto was intimidated, almost scared, of the reactions of many of the citizens of Konoha in the aftermath of the Chunin Exams. As one of the handful of promotions for this event, he'd expected to be in the limelight, but at some deep, terrified level, he was certain that people would believe he'd cheated somehow, that he'd used the demon fox within him to take the title from someone more deserving. However, aside from some of Sasuke's more rabid fan-girls (whose number no longer included Sakura or Ino, for example), the people around the town were actually treating him well. As this was a major attitude change for them, he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Naruto took note of the time and hurried along. Hinata was doing some shopping with Ino, Sakura and Tenten this morning, while he had been summoned to see the Godaime Hokage and her most prominent advisor the former Sandaime, before _he_ had to meet his Hinata-hime for some mysterious shopping of his own. As he raced toward the Hokage Tower over the rooftops, he wondered why he was needed.

* * *

Ishiguma Daikenshi had always hated his first name, and the strict laws of Iwa had caused his adoption of Otome to be an informal thing, rather than anything on paper. Now he sat here in this waiting room as Otome read from a scroll on the Hyaku Hoseki traits and bloodline, wondering how impressive this clan head for her family would be.

When the new chunin that Otome had faced in the stadium entered and strode up to the desk, Otome put down her scroll and watched him. She couldn't see any resemblance between the two of them, and surely what little she'd heard about him had to be exaggerated. But then... he _did_ manage to shut down her kekkei genkai, or more accurately, force _her_ to shut it down. She owed him something for that, so perhaps she could give him the benefit of the doubt.

The boy was passed in to see the Hokage, both the old one and the new, and Ishiguma grunted in resignation. He didn't quite see why a freshly minted chunin, even one as formidable as that one, was just allowed to waltz in... he must have missed the boy leaving, he assumed, when the dark-haired girl with the pig informed him that the Hokage would see them now...

As the two former Iwa nin entered, they saw that they had _not _missed the chunin's exit... he was still here. The Sandaime sat in a comfortable chair to one side and behind the desk, while the Godaime, a mature woman (late thirties, maybe?) rose from her own. The two available chairs looked comfortable, but since the boy was standing, so would they.

Tsunade acknowledged the two with a nod. "Ishiguma-san, Otome-san, welcome. I believe everyone here at least knows of each other, but for completeness, allow me the introductions." She gestured to each person as she named them. "I am Senju Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, known as the Queen of Slugs and Elixirs in some circles, and one of the Sannin. This is my advisor, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the former Sandaime Hokage, now retired once again, also known variously as the Professor and the God of Shinobi. Finally we have Uzumaki Naruto, our latest chunin, and head of the Uzumaki clan, of which the Hyaku Hoseki blood was one of three cadet lines."

As the information sank in, Ishiguma had a blistering realisation hit him full force... they weren't here so Otome could be adopted... she already was part of the clan by blood... they were here so _she_ could adopt _him_...

"Wait a moment, please..." he said, and thought furiously. "If I am correct," he continued after a few moments, "then you wish to adopt me into this clan, yes? I am uncertain what I can offer you. Are you certain you wish to do this?"

Naruto rose and bowed. Once things had been explained to him, that this girl was family, he'd known exactly what was needed. "Ishiguma-san, everyone has been tiptoeing around this issue, but what you say is true. As Otome is part of the Uzumaki by blood, and sees you as her father, then it makes sense that you also join the clan. All you need to offer is to keep being her dad. But before you accept, there is information you must both be made aware of... two things actually."

Naruto's words had their attention now. Ishiguma and Otome from curiosity as to what might change their minds, and Hiruzen and Tsunade from what information the boy had come across besides being the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki. "The first piece of information," Naruto said, "is that I am the prison of the Kyuubi no Yoko. The second... is that my father caused that scar."

Hiruzen was speechless, and Tsunade wasn't much better. Otome gaped for a while, switching her stare back and forth from her father to her... cousin? Kinsman? She didn't know which term was best... Ishiguma on the other hand was scrutinising the chunin, little more than a boy. There were similarities, yes... not a perfect match, with enough of his mother in him... His mother! She had to be that Uzumaki Kushina, the Crimson Blade, that was feared by both Iwa and Kumo... Still, he had to be sure.

"Who told you this?" he asked.

"No-one," Naruto replied. "I figured it out quite a while ago, and it was independently confirmed by those with reason to know. Besides, if the Hokage Monument was in colour, the whole village would have seen it long ago."

* * *

Hinata stood in the centre of the group as she quietly explained why she needed their help. "...and so, you see, I'll be marrying Naru-kun in two weeks time. I need your help." She bowed a little. "My father has made arrangements for the formal kimono, but I need advice and assistance in other ways. Kurenai-sensei has agreed to stand in for my mother, and..."

Tenten nodded. "You need your attendants, but can't figure out how to ask?"

Hinata blushed a little, embarrassed, but nodded. "I don't want to seem arrogant, or like I think I'm above you or anything... it's just... this is important to me. It's for Naru-kun."

Ino shook her head. "It's your big day too, Hinata," she pointed out. "So keep that in mind, alright? Now, let's start with the shopping... lingerie first, that's over there..."

* * *

The whole tale had taken a while to tell. Otome had been shocked, and tears had actually come to her eyes. She'd been unable to meaningfully touch people, but she'd at least had her father. Naruto's closest contact as a child had been the Hokage, a busy man who couldn't devote all his time to looking out for the boy, and then the abduction, the changes the experiments caused, the pain from those, the alienation... she was sure that a lesser person would have given up long ago. And this council... "About this CRA... they can't force it on someone, can they?"

The Hokage nodded. "That's why I consider it a particularly vile piece of work. I don't have quite the support I need to overthrow it and remove it yet. Removing Danzou helped, but I really need another seat from the council to get it... a seat that Naruto isn't old enough to vote."

Ishiguma's smile was not something one would like to see in a dark alley. It was almost feral. "Whereas I, should the head of my clan so choose, can stand as proxy. That's how I can repay him. Now, how do we do this?"

* * *

Shino passed the invitation to his parents, and as their eyebrows rose, he smiled. Few people invited the Aburame to grand occasions such as this wedding, but here it was in some of the neatest calligraphy they'd seen. Shibi turned to his son. "You believe we should go?"

Shino nodded. "They are my team-mates. They wish to share this day with my family. I doubt that either will be able to pay attention to anyone else, but we will be seen to be there. It is good for our clan, and I get to support my best friends outside my colonies. The conclusion is inescapable."

* * *

In Sunagakure no Sato, Temari and Kankuro peered into their brother's room. That horrible grating noise like sawing logs had dragged them through the house to find Gaara, fearing some new torture for some poor soul. But there he lay, eyes shut, the terrible noise emerging from his sleeping form as he snored...

* * *

Naruto stood on the bridge where he was to meet Hinata. He was early, but he had things to think on. Ishiguma and Otome had insisted on taking the clan name as their own, so now he had a cousin and uncle, and fitting family into his life was... new. He felt disoriented, as though everything were twisted to the side, and was fighting to understand how these complete strangers could feel so... indebted to him as to swear the kind of fealty they'd offered as head of the Uzumaki clan. The first thing he'd stated was a bald "Uzumaki aren't sealed against their own choice". At which point the newly named Uzumaki Ishiguma smiled even wider.

He smiled. That was two more people for the groom's side of the ceremony now. There _was _a bright side to it, after all.

* * *

There was, he decided, a fate worse than death. Neji looked on as Naruto was measured and fitted for the formal kimono by Kujaku Dansei. This was it. The formerly fate-obsessed boy (he acknowledged himself that, the way he'd behaved towards his family was not the attitude of a man) stared at the young man, there was no way to deny Naruto that title, with a wry self-deprecating smile. The elders still had some hold-outs over this matter, but by and large, Uzumaki had overcome their objections with the events of the Chunin Exams. It was ironic that one of Naruto's most fervent supporters was once the same man who'd called for his death for, how did he put it again? Oh, yes, 'corrupting the heiress and weakening her resolve and abilities'. Of course, said 'weak girl' was well on the way to becoming the strongest kunoichi of her generation. Obviously it took more than just having the Byakugan to give someone clear sight.

* * *

The three young Kumo genin looked around at the house they'd found themselves in. It was decorated with a definite crane motif. A portrait in particular caught their attention as they waited for the person they were supposed to meet. He looked somewhat like their sensei, but older, the hair almost silver. As they looked a familiar voice spoke up behind them. "My great-grandfather, Tsuru Tetsu."

Turning, they found the familiar features of their sensei, but in clothes they'd never seen before. The crane motif was extended here, and the silver-trimmed blue of his clothes fit him in a way the grey and black he'd worn in Kumo never had. He seemed... happier, more comfortable, and for a moment they couldn't figure out why... Then the realisation struck: He was _home_.

At his invitation, they made themselves comfortable. "Let's start at the beginning, shall we?" he asked, and continued as they nodded. "A bit under a decade ago, Kumo's current Raikage came to power, and decided that the way to make Kumo stronger was to take in the people of other nations... an admirable goal on paper, but his method of applying the principle was less so. He started by abducting children from other villages, usually the smaller villages, but then he saw the power in the bloodlines that Kiri was persecuting, and started expanding his plans. After successfully abducting children from _other_ nations under the guise of diplomatic relations, he set his sights on the Byakugan. At that time I was simply Tsuru Shikunshi, a name I have once again taken, and when the main plan failed he began to make noises of war to claim the body of the killer. The Hyuuga instead gave him the body of the killer's twin, but I realised that this would not satisfy him. So I went to Hokage-sama with a plan, to infiltrate Kumo, and investigate these things, with the distraction caused by the detonation of the explosive tags I left all over that body... and so began the life of Sagi Giso..."

* * *

Sakura looked at the targets, huffing as her body caught up to her actions. Only two thirds of her kunai had struck the mark, and that was simply not good enough. She glanced at the shadows. There was still time for another round, and she was improving faster than she'd thought she would. Maybe if she asked Sasuke for some tips? He was the best at this back in the Academy, after all, and it wouldn't put any strain on his chakra. If he felt useful, perhaps that would help. He just seemed so depressed lately...

* * *

Naruto stood at the edge of the training grounds, watching with Hinata beside him as their shadow clones fought a huge battle. To be fair, they had only created five clones each, and as the last dispelled and they both gained the memories they sighed and leaned against each other. "Another draw," Naruto said. His Hinata-hime nodded. He had the masses of chakra, she had the precision and efficiency... it balanced out, but they weren't able to determine who would have won that last fight in the Exams. Annoying but still, they had wondered. The past week had been hectic, and now there was nothing left but the waiting...

* * *

Hinata was getting fed up with the waiting, impatient to be able to call herself Naru-kun's _wife_. They knew very well why Kurenai sensei was sleeping so near them, and the only hiccup in the whole two weeks would be the night just before the actual ceremony... by tradition, she had to take a ritual bath to purify herself, a washing away of the old life so she was ready for the new, and could not spend that night with her intended. The two were worried that their nightmares would return and had voiced their concerns on such. Their weekly therapy sessions with the Yamanakas were going well, according to those two, although Naruto had overheard one of Inoichi's comments to his wife.

"How that boy has gone through all that and _not_ broken, I'll never know. I'm surprised that Konoha is still here sometimes, what with all that has been done to him."

* * *

Haruno Mebuki had been up all night, scouring the archives for some way to overturn the ruling of the Kyuubi brat's promotion, and enact the CRA. Her daughter would be perfect, once she got over the whole thing with that Uchiha... but why was there a nagging feeling at the back of her mind that this was wrong? Brushing aside the tiny voice that was protesting this set of actions, she strode into the council chamber.

The Godaime Hokage had relieved the elders Homura and Koharu of their 'burdens', despite their protests, and installed the former Sandaime in their place. Between that and Danzou's incarceration, it resulted in a tied vote, but one that Mebuki was certain she could swing in the right direction with this little piece of legislation. She frowned as she passed the large man with the scar and the ruby eye in a kimono, black with orange trim with the Uzumaki spirals on the shoulders and back, as well as over the heart... a configuration that only Uzumaki could wear... since when was the Stone Bear an Uzumaki?

As the councillor for the clanless shinobi took her seat, The Godaime took one look at the proposed agenda for today's meeting, snorted... and tore the inch-thick pile of paperwork in half. There was polite applause from a number of the shinobi clans.

"Today's agenda has not been sent to my office for confirmation," Tsunade began, her voice _daring_ them to interrupt and find out why that was a bad idea. No-one did. "So today runs to _my_ agenda. Item one: The Uzumaki clan has accepted one Uzumaki Otome into their ranks, and has extended a clan adoption to her father-by-choice, Uzumaki Ishiguma. Citing his age and lack of experience in... dealing... with politics, Uzumaki Naruto has given his proxy to his newly adopted uncle. This is not a request, as the clan's business is just that, it is a notification. As a further notice, with this expansion, Uzumaki Naruto is no longer the last male of his clan, and thus the CRA no longer applies."

Mebuki was stunned, and the voice in the back of her head got louder and started cheering. With difficulty she pushed it back... but now she felt a migraine starting...

Tsunade's voice broke through the pain. "Item two is the abolishment of the abomination known as the Clan Restoration Act. It is nothing less than legalised slavery, and I will have nothing like it in _my_ Konoha!" Tsunade's vehemence on the subject was infectious. Ishiguma voted with the other Shinobi clans as the Hokage wished, and smiled a promise at the civilian council... who recalled that he had a daughter who this law could have applied to... and several of them also voted for the abolishment. Those who did, however, winced with pain as headaches spontaneously manifested... bad ones. Tsunade noticed.

"Until certain issues can be ironed out," she announced, "I will not be convening the council. Until then, you can all rest easy. Dismissed."

After they'd left, she turned to Shizune. "Get word to Jiraiya," she said, "and quietly make sure that I'm the one to do the check-ups on the councillors' medicals... and bump up those medicals to just after the wedding."

* * *

Ay looked at the border. He was certain this was a bad idea, but the Raikage gave the orders. A team of three chunin under a jonin was the standard team for an assassination, but for Konoha? He'd seen some of the reports that had been sent back by Kumo agents... One of their _genin_ (admittedly, he was made chunin afterwards but at the time he'd still been a genin) had stopped a biju... he shook his head. There were times he thought his dad had to be going senile... this felt like one of them. He scrutinised his team as he drew a deep breath.

There was Bee... Killer Bee as he styled himself. He was Ay's little brother... adopted by the Raikage, whose imagination when it came to names seemed to be sorely lacking. Bee was the jinchuuriki to the Hachibi, a monstrous blend of octopus and ox... an ox-topus as Bee himself had put it once. It had taken twelve straight hours of classical music to convince Killer Bee that such a nickname for one of the most powerful things on the planet was not respectful. Somewhere along the way, the youth had become addicted to rap... although until he figured out how to properly balance the rhythm and rhyme schemes, it should be pronounced with an invisible 'c' at the start.

Then there was Nii Yugito. She'd always been an independent sort, paying barely a lick of attention to authority. That might have been the influence of the Nibi no Nekomata inside her, but it could have some other cause, too. The only reason she and Bee were on the same team was because it was easier to keep an eye on them that way. The girl always wore gloves, rumour said to stop her 'death touch' from killing people... but no-one knew for sure.

The last member of the team was one of twin brothers, with a unique jutsu that let them share thoughts and memories, even their senses, across the hundreds of miles between them. He was a spy, not on Konoha, but on this team, keeping the Raikage updated through his brother on exactly what was going on here. Ay shook his head. The man's personality was so arrogant and superior, you'd have thought him an Uchiha by the way he carried himself. If he knew a way to do it without getting caught, Kokoro Ichiro would have had an 'accident' long ago.

And how exactly were they supposed to assassinate the Konoha jinchuuriki if they didn't know who it was?

* * *

Otome looked around. This was her team,then, at least for now. She bowed to the others. "My name is Uzumaki Otome," she said. "I am new to Konoha, so please, excuse any ignorance I display."

The blonde girl beside the larger boy nodded."You're Naruto's cousin, aren't you? I'm Yamanaka Ino, and this is Akimichi Chouji. Our sensei is Sodaitora Shinshi, he said he'd be here later, and to show you where and how we train..."

* * *

The night before their wedding, Naruto did _not_ have nightmares... Instead, he and his beloved Hinata-hime spent their separate time holding a sort of vigil, a period of contemplation on what life would be bringing them as well as how they got this far. Forced by circumstance to grow up far too fast, the young shinobi stared meditatively into the flame of a candle, watching as it burned. It felt oddly refreshing when he realised that he'd spent the entire night awake. He'd found question after question, doubts had risen, and fears had been found, and he'd looked carefully at each. The answers he came up with were his own, and he dressed the next morning in the formal kimono he'd purchased with the assistance of Neji and Hinata. The black wide-legged trousers, and the black kimono with orange trim and the white spiral of Uzumaki on each shoulder, beneath the white haori, or sleeveless coat, that bore the red spirals on the back and over the heart, and the clan's new emblem, an orange spiral, on the obi about his waist, were striking and suited him well.

As he strode past the guests, including the newest members of his clan and a few others such as Kakashi, Jiraiya and Iruka, Naruto was nervous, no, terrified, that Hinata would for some reason change her mind. But when her father led her into the room, all Naruto's thoughts disappeared like snow in an active volcano.

The bride wore the traditional formal kimono, pure white, with a cloth over her head like a hood, and pale make-up, and the traditional tanto, intended to represent the severing of ties with her old family. The thin line of red silk, showing at the edges, was a second kimono, meant to be revealed after the ceremony was concluded, a sort of rebirth, a new life for the bride. For the white kimono bore the emblems of the Hyuuga, while the red would have the Uzumaki spirals.

The second she saw him, their eyes met, and other than each other's faces, the rest of the ceremony was a blur, although they must have been paying enough attention to get by, making the right responses in the right places, and before they'd realised it, the white Kimono was removed and Tsunade-sama, in her office as Hokage, was declaring them wed... and granting them permission to kiss. They were both so focused on each other...

When the time came for them to go to bed, they found that Kurenai's futon had been moved. They'd known that it would be, but it still came as a shock of sorts, that their sensei didn't believe they needed a chaperone any more... The two made their way across the bedroom, dropping a garment every few feet, until they were in the bed, kissing with a passion they'd not realised they'd been waiting for, and shut off the lights as they fell into each other's embrace...

* * *

Outside Konoha, on a hill overlooking the gates, two men in black cloaks embroidered with red clouds waited for dawn, when the gates would open again... They had seen the fireworks of some celebration... the Chunin Exams had been two weeks gone, so still celebrating that was unlikely... and had decided to wait until morning. Hungover shinobi were, after all, easier to deal with...


	18. Seal 18: Endure

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. The most dangerous form of madness is the conviction that you're sane.

**Eighteenth Seal: Endure.**

Naruto and his new bride made their appearance at the Hokage Tower to register the final paperwork for their marriage... Hinata's change-of-address forms. The celebrations the previous night had apparently not been confined to the Hyuuga estate, so many of the Shinobi, and more than a few civilians, were a little hung-over. The terrors of bureaucracy vanquished for now, the happy couple decided to see what their fellow rookies had gotten up to.

"So where to first?" Naruto asked. Knowing they'd be in demand, the newly-weds had chosen not to take a honeymoon, but to be available if the Hokage needed them. Now he made the same decision as many wise husbands through the ages... the opinion of your wife matters...

"Shino will be helping his family with their hives and unattached kikaichu colonies... I think his little sister Shikibu is supposed to be getting her first colony in about a month or so... so he'll be busy today. Ino was going to visit Sakura, and probably train with her. Hmm." Hinata's decision was a long time in coming. "Kiba?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah. It's Friday, and he's not on a mission, so he has to clean the Inuzuka dog runs today. He cleans himself well, but I can smell it. What about Shikamaru?"

It was Hinata's turn to shoot down an idea. "He did have a mission today. Apparently he's the ambassador Hokage-sama is sending to Suna, to keep an eye on the treaty. It seems they still haven't chosen a Godaime Kazekage yet, too many factions, and Tsunade-sama is hoping he can find the one best suited to the job." As they wandered down the street, they found themselves in front of the Academy, where the students, including Konohamaru and his friends Moegi and Udon as well as Hanabi, although she was on the opposite side of the group from the others, were setting in to spar with each other. There was a moment that the ninja cadets smiled to see the newest, and arguably most famous chunin in the village, before their gazes were drawn to someone or something behind the couple.

Reacting on instinct, Naruto ducked, even as Hinata jumped upward, to balance for a moment on Naruto's hand, thrust into the air in the wake of whatever had nearly taken his head off... at least as far as most people could see.

There in the middle of the street were two men in black cloaks covered with red clouds. The one on the right was taller, and held what looked like it should have been a two-handed sword, although as covered in bandages as it was, it was hard to be certain, in one hand. The man himself was strange, no other word fit. The black sclera of his eyes, contrasted against the golden iris and the dead-looking pupil, the blue hue to his skin, the gill-like marks on his face... everything about this man screamed 'killer'... no, not 'killer', Naruto and Hinata knew they could kill if they had to... this man was the type of psychopath who would cut you just to see you bleed, and to hell with whatever another thought of this.

The other man's face was obscured beneath his wide-brimmed hat, but there was an air about him that said 'dangerous', a capacity not just to kill, but to make it last until the victim was begging for it... "Uzumaki Naruto," he said in a dead voice, "you will be coming with us, or we will kill your friend here, and then those children, one by one, while you won't be able to stop us..."

Naruto snorted as he and Hinata took fighting stances, and various other people in the streets shook their heads as these two strangers apparently appeared from nowhere. As the civilians backed away, and the Academy teachers hurried to move the cadets back into the Academy building, the shorter of the two reached for his hat. "Remember Kisame, the leader wants him alive... and we don't have much time before they come for us."

The shark-featured man grinned, his teeth all jagged, like a row of broken bottles. "Don't worry, I don't think taking off his legs so he can't run is going to kill him," he retorted.

* * *

There was a pounding on the door of Tsunade's rooms, and the Hokage was jerked into sudden, painful awareness. The bottle before her was once full of prime quality shochu, sake's stronger cousin, and now it was not. _That _would certainly explain the hammering... As she noticed Jiraiya slowly lifting his head from the couch opposite her, the Godaime Hokage realised that the pounding was not _just_ in her head, and struggled to her feet and stumbled towards the door, even as her old friend made his way to the kitchen to make coffee. Yanking the door open, she glared at the terrified chunin outside. "What is it? I warn you, if it's not important, I'll have you busted back to the Academy so fast..."

"Hokage-sama!" the ninja interrupted, voice filled with panic. "Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame! They're here in Konoha, outside the Academy! I think they're after the Uzumaki couple." His report delivered, the ninja braced for the reaction, even as Jiraiya dropped the coffee cups on the way out the window, with the Hokage shouting orders back over her shoulder as she followed.

"Get all available jonin on capture crews, and call out hunter-nin in case we aren't in time, I want all ANBU to drop what they're doing, _whatever_ it is, and assemble for interception. And let the hospital know we'll need more beds."

* * *

"I don't suppose you'd let us take this somewhere you can't threaten innocent bystanders?" Naruto said to the shark-like man before him, even as his wife (he couldn't get enough of calling Hinata that) moved to intercept the other missing-nin.

Kisame's answer was another swing of the massive sword (Naruto assumed that was what was under the bandages, based on how Kisame was wielding it). Side-stepping as the weapon came down wasn't much help, as the blade _moved_, twisting its shape to strike him anyway. Naruto reacted by pouring a measure of chakra into his bones, bringing the bonemetal plating to his shoulder just in time to catch the blow, which drove him to his knees, even as he brought out his claws. The sudden extension of his bonemetal widened his opponent's eyes as the sword hit, and the claws had the man leaping back to avoid the slash that came with them.

"Okay, _that's_ something new," the missing-nin muttered. "Hey, Itachi, I think your agents are slipping, they didn't tell us about _this_." He swept the blade again, this time aiming for soft tissue. No-one could say he wasn't a fast learner, and as the sword called Samehada swept across, aimed at the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's abdomen, Naruto caught the blade on his crossed claws, even as he pushed wind and lightning chakra into them.

"Arashi no Tsume!" the younger shinobi yelled. "Claws of the storm!" "_The technique's been effective on over-sized swords before,_" the fresh-minted chunin thought, "_why mess with a winning combination?_"

* * *

"You have bitten off more than you can chew, girl," the renegade Uchiha stated. "It is unfortunate, but I will have to finish this before we can be interrupted... but that doesn't mean I can't take my time with this." Guessing he was about to use a genjutsu, Hinata threw her chakra into her Byakugan, watching, not the physical world, but the chakra flows, even as Itachi spoke the name of his dreaded technique. "Tsukiyomi."

The world was an illusion, a vast and complex construct, and despite the obvious distortions, she was trapped in it. Itachi couldn't help but lecture her. "The Byakugan is a most wonderful tool for piercing deception," he said as he stepped up to the girl chained to a cross, with an unsheathed katana in his hand. This is going to hurt, and you will die... eventually. You can do nothing here, for all that you have the Byakugan, to the Mangekyo Sharingan, it is just another way to seize control of your senses. And when we are done here, I will leave your corpse lying in the street, and we will extract the Kyuubi from your little boyfriend, and he will join you... in death. And still, you can do nothing about it."

Hinata forced her attention away from his voice. She instead focused on Kurenai-sensei's lectures about genjutsu, and what little the jonin had said about the sharingan's illusions. The Byakugan let her see the chakra flow, and she was in a lucid state, with some control of the shifts, or she would be unable to feel the pain that Itachi obviously wanted her to. If he'd had that much control of the illusory world, he'd not have bound her. She felt the katana enter her chest, piercing her breast slowly as it was forced through her heart. Then suddenly it was gone.

Itachi spoke again. "This genjutsu's subjective time will last seventy-two hours, three days," he said. "That was one minute. Now..." He again raised his katana...

Hinata was so close to breaking this. Naruto was obviously fighting out there, he was fighting for her, and she would fight for him, for their future... a soft pulse of chakra washed through her belly as she thought of that future, of their children as yet unborn, or even conceived... for them, the sons and daughters for her Naru-kun to teach and spoil, she would not let this... criminal... defeat her. She couldn't move her hands to form hand-seals, so she'd have to do this without them. In the real world, this would be impossible, since she didn't have the necessary chakra reserves, and likely wouldn't for years, or even decades, if ever. But, here, in a world that was pure illusion and chakra that was just begging to be shaped...

* * *

Kisame jumped backwards, landing on the fence across from the Academy, staring at the bleeding wound in his sword, pouring out the liquified chakra onto the ground, where it hissed and steamed away. Looking over, he could see where Samehada had made contact with the boys arm, flaying it to the bone... metallic bone at that, but even as he watched, the injury was closing, healing over and filling out beneath the crusted blood. It obviously hurt, but it just as obviously wouldn't slow the boy down for long. He'd need an edge, and his eyes lit on the children in the Academy yard, even as they were being ushered inside, and he saw one girl, looking quite like the one Itachi had trapped in his genjutsu... he'd have threatened her, she was obviously important to him, but he was between them now...

Kisame sprang into motion, leaping the fence in a single bound, and driving the teacher with the scar on his face back with Samehada's hilt as he reached for the girl... He didn't expect the boy... a scarf-wearing brat who hadn't even received his hitai-ate, racing between them and driving a kunai into the outstretched arm... with Kisame's experience, it wasn't a serious wound, and he pulled back the arm in time to avoid it becoming any more serious, as he thrust across with Samehada, a glancing blow at best that shredded the brat's shirt and made his chest look like someone had used it to go sledding on gravel...

The killing intent that exploded behind him froze him to the spot, even as the girl was screaming her classmate's name... or was it the village's name? Kisame had other things to worry about as he forced himself to look back at the boy, little more than a child, this menacing presence came from.

"**That was a mistake,**" snarled Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

Itachi was vaguely interested in this child's manoeuvre, even if it was futile, he would let her try, and when she failed... well, he would have to punish the attempt, but he would respect her while he did.

Hinata focused her lucid mind on the patterns she'd seen Naruto utilise a handful of times, and struggled with it. The first step, rotation, was easy enough, and the second step, power, was easy to obtain here, she simply took it from the genjutsu around them. The third and final step was control, something that any half-trained Hyuuga had in spades, and at least one Uzumaki, now.

The chains on her arms and wrists shattered as the impossible blue spheres appeared in her hands, tearing away at the solidity of the nightmare. As she dropped to her feet and the 'sword', or rather the image of a sword was raised, she concentrated on the very real feelings of the night before, and the inevitable future where she would be nursing _her _children and would not let go, screaming out as she launched her illusory assault, making up the name on the spot: "Uzumaki Hidden Technique: Rasen Nento, Spiral Mind!"

The spiralling spheres were as illusory as the rest of the sharingan enforced genjutsu... and that was precisely the problem. By placing himself in the genjutsu, Itachi had rendered himself vulnerable in a way he'd never imagined. As the twisting rotating energy of an attack he'd never believed to be passed on stripped away the substance of the illusion, and as Hinata drove these balls of spiralling energy into the face of her captor, all the power of Itachi's own genjutsu was forced to feed back into his own sharingan...

* * *

Jiraiya heard the screams of agony and pain as he landed, and saw Hinata collapse to her knees, and thought he'd arrived too late, until he saw Itachi Uchiha clutching at the ruins of his eyes as they exploded outwards across his face. A quick glance toward Naruto saw him driving Hoshigaki Kisame back into a corner, his sword damaged badly, and with wounds here and there, while Naruto's own injuries barely lasted seconds. As the newly-made chunin manoeuvred his foe into a position with no-one behind him, the Toad Sage saw the body of Sarutobi Konohamaru lying on the ground in front of a shocked and silent Hyuuga Hanabi... no, not silent, she was whispering the boy's name over and over. Pointing, knowing Tsunade was right behind him, he moved to cut off the escape of these missing-nin...

Naruto was enraged by this stranger's attack on Konohamaru, and his attempt to take Naruto's new sister-in-law hostage was, to the Uzumaki credo he was assembling, unforgivable. He reached out mentally as he kept up the assault, to the one deep inside him...

"_Kyuubi no Yoko, I don't have your name, but I ask for a little of your chakra,_" he sent the message direct, mind to mind, and the Kyuubi paused. "_These strangers came to our home, and threatened us, so we fought, and they threatened the children of the village, and I need to stop this one before he hurts another child... ever again. The one he hurt is a friend, a little brother in type if not blood._"

"**Better be ready, kit,**" the Kyuubi said as he extended a little more chakra through the seal. "**This is going to hurt... and by the way, you who fights for the younglings, the kits of your people... my name is Kurama.**" Naruto didn't have time to respond to that, as the flow of chakra, of youki, into his body did indeed hurt, as if a full body gravel rash were dipped in salt-water, and he was forced to concentrate to channel this chakra to where he needed it.

The flare of red chakra over Naruto's body was not missed by any of the arriving Shinobi. All the rookies saw it, as did their senseis. The killing intent Naruto had been pouring out intensified, although somehow, there was an inhumanly precise control to it, as Tsunade, Hanabi and Konohamaru didn't feel so much as a nervous flutter. Nor did Hinata, but that was because she knew, on a level so deep it was impossible to shake, that Naruto was this scary to those who threatened his precious ones...

The red aura condensed, melding with his own blue chakra into a vibrant purple colour, and this energy was channelled into the spiralling orb of the Rasengan as he struck forward with his left claws as he forced the barely-contained purple orb into the claws on his right, and he drove them forwards as Kisame brought up Samehada to block, roaring out as he did.

"Rasenjutsu: Uzumaki no Tsume, Demon Strike!"

* * *

Samehada held up for a few seconds before the spiralling, wild energy of the chakra enhanced claws tore away at the blade, drilling a massive hole in it that had three ridges to it, top and bottom. The burst of spiralling chakra then continued outwards _through _the body behind the sword, leaving a similar if somewhat larger hole through Kisame's chest, and grinding three gouges from the sparring field, across the street and through the wall on the far side. The sheer energy released was staggering, and even Jiraiya was struck mute by the event. Turning, his claws retracting into his arms with a hiss of heated metal, Naruto's eyes sought out Hinata, and even as shell-shocked ANBU took the renegade Uchiha into custody, weighing him down with chakra restraints, Naruto walked a little unsteadily to his Hinata-hime and embraced her, as the two nearly collapsed against a nearby wall.

Konohamaru was delivered quickly to the hospital where trainee medic-nin would regenerate the skin on his chest, while Hanabi ran to her sister and hugged her, crying aloud now.

The Hokage looked around at the damage, Kisame's body, and the ANBU dragging away their prisoner. This was going to be Jigoku's own paperwork...

* * *

Ay's right eye was developing a noticeable twitch as he looked through the binoculars at the scene of that fight. The chakra-powered devices that he and his team carried had allowed them to witness the fight as if from a nearby rooftop, while actually standing in the park above the Hokage monument. A low whistle caught his attention.

"Yo, bro, I think we know where they jinchuuriki's at, but I ain't willin' ta fight the brat." Bee's rap struck a more annoying nerve than usual, but for once, Yugito didn't call him on it, instead speaking the older jinchuuriki's lingo.

"Word," She peeled her eyes from her own binoculars, turning to the third chunin. Ichiro had a look of concentration on his face as he relayed the information to his brother Nijiro. Then he paled.

"Raikage says not to abort," he said, "and we can't let Konoha keep such an asset. Secondaries are targets of opportunity, primary is essential. Nijiro says screw that for a game of soldiers, he wants to live." At the blank looks on his team's faces, he sighed. "A major drawback of our family jutsu, is how closely it links our life-forces... one dies, both do. I don't like the thought that I'm expendable, and neither does he."

Ay was assessing the situation and picking out what details he could, before turning away from Konoha. "Initial reconnaissance has raised questions as to the quality of current intelligence assets. Several problems have been raised in regards to target's current abilities. Said target and his team-mate have both recently made chunin, and although they were almost certainly under-estimated by their opponents, they did take down two S-rank missing-nin. In my opinion as Team leader, this requires we withdraw, acquire further intelligence and then revisit the plans to eliminate a threat to Kumogakure."

Ichiro was busy relaying Ay's report, so he missed the look that passed between Bee and Yugito as Ay said this. They nodded to each other and then to Ay. They were with him. They had noticed, even if Ichiro, new to the field, hadn't, that their leader hadn't specified the exact threat he was thinking of...

* * *

Sasuke stared at his brother as the ANBU carried him away, feeling the curse mark nudging at his desire for revenge, trying to amplify it to the point that he would act madly for the power. But Itachi had just had his eyes blown out by a Hyuuga, somehow, and from the way he screamed at the time, the injury of _that_ far outweighed the physical loss. He beat back the urge to take out a kunai and attack his brother, with the thought that he'd let him marinate in his own misery for a while. He almost missed Kakashi-sensei's presence until the one-eyed jonin spoke.

"Sasuke, perhaps you should look at it like this," Kakashi said as his student trembled with rage and bloodlust. "Perhaps the _best_ form of revenge you can get on Itachi is to render him... irrelevant. To say 'You have had no effect on me, and you aren't worth enough of my attention to scrape you off my shoe'."

"I hadn't thought of it like that, sensei," the young Uchiha said.

* * *

Sakura felt a shiver of fear running down her spine as she looked at Naruto, and then to the damage he'd done. It was terrifying to think that she had once been willing to antagonise someone who could do that... It was a good thing Naruto didn't hold a grudge or she would really have something to be scared of. She peered through the gashes in the wall across from the Academy's sparring field. The gouges had continued through here, for another five feet, ruining half of a backyard picnic table, and she again looked over at Naruto, who was nestled in Hinata's arms as much as the other way around. "_And she goes to bed with him..._" she thought, wondering how it came to pass that the shyest girl in their year had become the gutsiest kunoichi...

* * *

Otome looked up as her father entered the yard which their house shared with Naruto's. His face was grim. "Two of the Akatsuki arrived today," he said with a dour tone to his gravelly voice. "They were apparently here for Naruto-sama."

As she placed her hands over her mouth, the red-haired girl went white... literally. She'd raised her kekkei genkai and was standing as she did, ready to go to war to bring back her cousin, but her father's raised hand stopped her, as he continued speaking.

"It was Uchiha and Hoshigaki, Otome-chan, neither of us would have stood a chance. Before you go to raise an army, it's fine. Naruto-sama and Hinata-sama are already back under their own roof."

Otome breathed a sigh of relief as her Skin of Stone retreated. "So the ANBU arrived in time, or the Hokage herself, and Jiraiya-sama?"

Ishiguma shook his head. "They did manage a timely arrival, but by the time they did, it was all over." He paused savouring the puzzled look on her face, then the widening of her eyes as she realised exactly what that meant. "Hai, Otome-chan, Naruto-sama and Hinata-sama stopped the top pair of the Akatsuki unaided... It makes me very proud of my new clan."

Otome nodded as she collapsed back into the seat. If her cousin was _that_ strong... she was a very lucky kunoichi...

* * *

The messenger was lying on Orochimaru's floor, rapidly cooling... and the man, if the term could be accurately applied, was currently destroying things in a towering rage. _He'd_ never been able to defeat Uchiha Itachi, and here some half-grown girl not only beat him, but destroyed his eyes doing it! As he threw another glass jar, filled with some body parts harvested from his experiments, scattering the formaldehyde-soaked organs across the room, he began to calm. He'd been doing this for the past five minutes, and all it was getting him was fewer research materials.

As he sat on his throne, he recalled the circumstances of his own leaving the group that had just lost its two best members. Perhaps he could convince them of a mutual benefit? A shared goal? This would need finesse...

* * *

Itachi woke, but his eyes wouldn't open, and he heard a familiar voice.

"I've been hoping to have a little chat with you, Uchiha Itachi," said Morino Ibiki. "There are three ways this can go, the easy way, which is very easy, the hard way, which is... less so. And then there's _my way_."


	19. Seal 19: Inquire

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Stupidity killed the cat; Curiosity was framed.

**Nineteenth Seal: Inquire.**

Konohamaru opened his eyes in his hospital room. His chest still hurt, but it felt a great deal better than when that shark-freak had hit him. His torso was swathed in bandages, and his only clothes were his boxers, with the spiral leaf emblem of Konoha patterned all over them. There were a few minor scrapes on his arms, nothing big, that had also been treated and glistened with the look of fresh ointment. He wasn't alone in here, either. Looking at the chairs beside his bed, he noticed his grandpa leaning back in one, sleeping, and Naruto with Hinata in his lap in the other. The two of them looked pretty tired, but Naruto's eyes were open, and he prodded Hinata into wakefulness. Konohamaru didn't fully understand why the two had gotten married so young, but he'd been a guest at the wedding, standing as part of the groom's family, and the dancing had been kind of nice, even if he was new to it.

As Hinata wiped the sleep from her eyes, she stood, and Naruto tapped the former Hokage on his shoulder, even as his wife stepped out of the room. "Don't worry, Kono-kun," Naruto told him. "We were only allowed in if we kept an eye on you for the nurses, and there's someone else out there who wanted to know when you woke up."

Konohamaru was wondering what he meant as his grandfather hugged him. "You did well, Kono-kun," the old man was saying, tears in his eyes. "You made me proud, although you need to work on your defensive skills."

"Umm, okay, Oji-san," the boy said,as he looked to Naruto for help. The older boy merely shook his head, a 'you're on your own' gesture, and turned his head towards the door, where Hinata stood with the girl Konohamaru had danced with the previous night, the very one he'd just reacted to save today...

* * *

Hyuuga Hanabi knew that her Tou-san was behind her, and that Hinata was here and so were so many others, but still she walked carefully up to the bed, stopping right next to the boy who'd saved her life as she leaned over and put a kiss on his cheek. While he was still stunned by that action, as it seemed everyone in the room was, she whispered to him. "Thank you for saving me, Konohamaru. I enjoyed the dance last night, too. Please call me Hana-chan."

What courage she had gathered for this deserted her, and she fled, a bemused father behind her. Konohamaru still sat shocked on the bed, slowly raising his hand to the cheek she'd brushed against. "Naruto-nii-san, why'd she do that?" he asked, turning to his surrogate big brother. "And why'd she run off?"

Naruto glanced around at the suddenly attentive faces, eager to see him explain the minefield of relationships to the younger boy. "Well, I'm not the best person to ask," he temporised, gathering his scattered thoughts. "I mean, she's Hinata's sister, she's known her longer, and Jiji-sama here has been around for years..."

Konohamaru shrugged aside Naruto's excuses. "Yeah, but you're the one I can understand when you tell me stuff."

Naruto sighed as Hiruzen chuckled, and Hinata stifled a giggle. "Alright, then," he replied. "I'll give it a shot... Hanabi is basically a princess, right?" At Konohamaru's nod he expanded on the metaphor. "Well, when the princess was attacked by a monster, the gutsy little ninja came out of nowhere to save her, so she wanted to thank you. You got hurt because you were saving her, so she wanted to give you something important, so you'd know she was grateful, and that she would always remember what you did. So she gave you a kiss. But then she got scared that you wouldn't like it, and she didn't want to find out if you didn't, so she ran away."

Konohamaru thought hard, unconsciously mimicking Naruto's thinking pose, his chin gripped in his fingers. "Okay, I can see that," he said, even as he recalled some of the girls in the Academy yard trying to do the same... not that he'd ever let them get close, it didn't feel nice the way they were... hunting... him. There were only two girls in his year that weren't trying to do this to him. Moegi, who he saw as a sister substitute, a good friend who just happened to be a girl... even if she looked at Udon a lot... and Hanabi. She was usually apart from the rest in class, the others all calling her stuck-up, just because she was a Hyuuga. He didn't realise he was touching his cheek again, nor that he spoke aloud when he murmured. "So why did it feel so... nice?"

* * *

The bounties that had accumulated on Itachi and Kisame were substantial, and those moneys were directed into the coffers of the new Uzumaki clan, and used to improve the estate, and the finances. Naruto was still rather frugal, but now that most of the merchants in Konoha were no longer overcharging him, the little he used to spend was going further. All told, the next few days as Konohamaru recovered were pleasant, even if he and Hinata were spending a large proportion of the daylight hours training even harder. Hinata's gravity seals had been increased to four, even as his reached six, and they were working on adding other jutsu and improving their fighting styles, a course of action Otome and Ishiguma were only too happy to help with.

It was nearly a week after the incident with the two Akatsuki agents that the former Team Eight, now known as Team Kurenai, were called to the Hokage's office, where they were greeted by Yamanaka Inoichi and Morino Ibiki, with the Godaime Hokage and her advisor.

"We have received these from an agent in Kumogakure no Sato," Tsunade said as she placed two books on the desk in front of her. They were bingo books, the collection of bounties placed on various ninja by the Hidden Villages. Each of the Five Great Villages published their own, while several lesser villages shared another few such publications. The two in question were from Iwa and Kumo respectively. Iwa's was expected, of course, with prices on the heads of Ishiguma Daikenshi and Dairiseki Otome. They were certain that Iwa knew that they'd been taken into the Uzumaki clan by now, and that this was the Tsuchikage's method of saving face.

The other book contained some disturbing changes. Every member of Team Kurenai was in there now. The price on Shino's head was the lowest, a mere ten thousand ryo, where Kurenai, who'd been in the books for some time, was at thirty thousand. As a further example, Itachi's status in this book had been one hundred thousand, but he was no longer in the pages, and nor was Kisame. Hinata's value was thirty thousand alive and unharmed, and half that dead. Naruto had the dubious honour of having a fifty thousand ryo bounty on him from the start. Alive was apparently preferred, but dead kicked less...

Naruto looked up from the books. "So what now, Hokage-sama?" he asked. This was an official Team meeting, and protocol mattered.

Tsunade sighed. "This actually limits where I can send you until the matter is resolved. I've sent an envoy to request the crimes you've supposedly committed to be in this book, and to have the evidence of such crimes perused. We may be able to get him to retract the bounties, but until then, I can't send you too close to Kaminari no Kuni. And that's a problem, because I was going to schedule your team to perform a border patrol out that way. What this means is that I have to send Team Seven to do this border patrol, while I send you to investigate this sighting of Kumo ninja in the region of Tanzaku Gai. Your primary mission is reconnaissance, but if you're challenged..." The Hokage paused as she assessed her shinobi. "...then I want prisoners. Ibiki has a much more difficult time getting information from corpses."

* * *

Since Kabuto's capture, or betrayal (he wavered between the two, depending on which day it was), Orochimaru had trouble getting good intelligence out of Konoha. The few agents he had available were either too obvious, and thus would be caught in a matter of hours, or they were ineffective, only netting him gossip and rumours. It was a pile of such that he was sifting through, in an attempt to pry the few golden nuggets of actual information fro the dross of hearsay, make-believe and innuendo. Then one report caught his eye... Kumo ninja were seen near Tanzaku Gai... if he could get those on his side.

* * *

Ay looked at the assassination squad his father had sent him. Their gear was bloody, and looked seldom cleaned as it was covered in grime that must have been weeks old. Each and every one of this lot was a indeed a killer, he was certain, but the question arose in his mind exactly what they had been killing. Unarmed civilians, most likely. They seemed to have been chosen as throwaway assets, never intended to survive the mission.

He looked up at Bee and Yugito as they watched from the trees behind the would-be assassins, which the fools hadn't even looked at twice. Both shook their heads, not recognising any of the six people now before Ay. The tall, dark-skinned man stood, flexing his arms as he did, drawing attention to the massive bracers he wore there. A glance at the hitai-ate each 'killer' wore told him they were cheap knock-offs of real Kumo emblems, and bad ones at that. A quick glance at the once-arrogant, now decidedly nervous Ichiro. According to him, his brother was now under constant guard. "If these are the best that he sent us, Kumo has definitely fallen. I'm beginning to wonder if there's anyway to save it," Ay muttered. Ichiro nodded slightly, and held out a scroll.

"I'm worried. I know Nijiro and I have been a bit puffed-up on our own importance, but... Look, I wrote out the jutsu that links twins like Nijiro and me. It only works for twins, but it's not a kekkei genkai. If Nijiro and I don't make it... well, this and two jinchuuriki should be enough to get Konoha to take you in, I hope."

Taking the scroll, Ay slid it inside his flak vest. Turning to the leader of the assassination squad he began to speak. "So how do we get into Konoha, then? The lot of you stand out far too much to simply walk through the gates, and Bee and I are too obviously from Kumo. On the whole, I have to say your infiltration and stealth is sub par."

The lead assassin threw the latest Kumo bingo book to the larger man. "With those bounties, the bleeding hearts won't send them to our border. We've spread around that we're in the area. Now we just kill any Konoha ninja they send until we get their team. Simple."

Ay looked up at him, shocked. He waved the bingo book. They've done nothing to be put in here. What possible crimes could justify this?"

"Well, you see, we have some orders for you..."

* * *

Team Kurenai had been making good time through the thick forests of Hi no Kuni. With Naruto on point, and Shino as rearguard, the Team were moving fast, but not so fast they couldn't discuss the mission. "Kumo shinobi are supposed to be better than this," Kurenai said. "Their training is about as good as Konoha's... well, probably better since the civilian council was interfering. That's being fixed now, thank the kami."

Hinata, Byakugan active as she scanned for threats, agreed. "It's almost as if they wanted us to know where they were."

Naruto had stopped dead in his tracks as he caught the scents ahead on the wind. Raising his fist brought the rest of the team to a halt, two fingers signalled Hinata's attention, tapping his temple told her to use her Byakugan, and the sharp pointing of those fingers told her where to focus. Sure enough she saw them... A total of ten Kumo ninja... although six of those were wearing cheap and obviously fake hitai-ate. Relaying the information took a few seconds, but Kurenai knew the orders to give in this situation. Moving in stealthily, the Konoha team listened in.

* * *

Yugito and Bee joined their team-mates as Ay looked at the orders on the scroll in disbelief. "So we've been ordered, as a diplomatic mission, to help Konoha smooth out the problems in the Bingo Book? Good." He put the scroll in his vest, next to the twin link jutsu scroll. Maybe his dad wasn't as crazy as this whole mess was telling him...

"The unprovoked murder of peaceful envoys is a big enough crime for those rewards, wouldn't you say?" the lead assassin said as he drew his sword... a suspiciously well maintained blade for such a grubby little man. Ichiro's eyes widened as he gasped, and collapsed. "Nijiro..." he managed to croak out. "poisoned..." He shuddered and breathed out. He did not breathe in.

...and then again, maybe not.

* * *

From what Naruto could tell, the second lot of Kumo nin were going to kill the first lot... "**They'll try,**" his passenger said. "**Two of them are jinchuuriki, although I doubt they've shared their names with them yet.**"

He looked to his team captain for orders, and as Kurenai had all their attention, she sketched out the orders with the Konoha hand signals. Simply translated, they would protect the Diplomats from their assassins. When the first Kumo nin dropped for no reason Naruto could see, and with that one drawing his sword at the same time...

Team Eight leapt from the trees.

* * *

Bee saw Ichiro drop, heard his last words and frowned. They'd been set up, for sure. This kind of crime would secure places in that Bingo Book, but the odd thing would be the timing. Pop was always better about the small details than that, it was almost like he wasn't himself. And killing his own sons just for the ruse... okay, that _was_ pure Pop, he led from the front and didn't ask others to sacrifice what _he_ wouldn't, but he _would_ sacrifice anything... and, it seemed, any one...

His swords began to dance their arcs as he took his stance, all seven blades at once in the strangest combat art any one had ever encountered anywhere, equal parts swordsmanship and juggling. But the handful of senbon that hit, and the burning paralysis that was overtaking him, were _not_ good signs. Yugito had managed to avoid the first batch of needles, but as she started to remove her gloves, a poisoned kunai grazed her thigh, leaving behind a deep, bloody scratch, and the same paralytic poison as Bee had been struck with.

Ay's Inazuma no Yoroi deflected the senbon and kunai that were hurled in his direction, but apparently the assassins were ready for that, too. They were exceedingly well-prepared, and the smoke-bomb they lobbed at him was filled with some kind of paralytic incense. By the time it had dispersed, Ay was already down, and the sword-bearing lead assassin was stepping closer and thrusting with his blade... when a black-and-orange shape interposed itself, one arm swiping out wide as the assassin jumped back, his sword and his cheap hitai-ate being cut into four parts.

Straining his eyes, Ay saw the rest of his team being protected by a girl in an orange jacket and a boy in a long greatcoat, and a beautiful woman in Konoha jonin uniform. All those extra pouches on the vest must be _soo_ handy...

The jonin was apparently administering an anti-paralytic, as within a minute, he could see them moving, and when the boy... no, young man... guarding him dragged him towards his team, the Kumo jonin, managed to growl out an admonishment to watch his own back first, which had the Konoha chunin laughing. "That back?" he asked as he pointed and turned Ay so he could see the very same ninja who was carrying him. "I'm just the kage bunshin, Kumo-san, that's the boss."

Naruto's clone having gotten the jonin to safety, Naruto's full attention was available for the assassins in front of him. They may not have looked like much, but they were far better than they seemed at first glance, and he sliced at an incoming smoke bomb, as its contents poured over him. The cry of triumph as one of the assassins charged in sword drawn was cut short by a spray of blood, and the man stumbled back less his sword arm, and a second ninja turned to apply a medical jutsu. In the short time this took, Hinata had received the go-ahead from Kurenai, and dashed forward to help her husband.

The newly-weds stood back to back, and waited, Shino stood guard over the Kumo 'diplomats' as they recovered, and Kurenai began the hand signs of a genjutsu she'd recently learned from a genjutsu genin prodigy. As she finished the last Seal, Hinata nudged Naruto and both closed their eyes as the genjutsu washed over the area. "Sen Ten Yume!"

* * *

With the assassins mostly contained, excepting only their medic (who, being somewhat intelligent, did _not_ want to keep fighting) and the one-armed man, the Kumo jinchuuriki and their captain were free to recover, and after what had just happened, they were only too happy to share their concerns about the Raikage's sanity. There was plenty of evidence of this half-baked plot, and once they got some prisoners back to Ibiki...

Turning to Hinata, Kurenai spoke quickly. "We need your fastest squirrel, this information has to get back to the Hokage at once," she said. "Shino, we'll need some guards if your allies are up to it." Almost at once a circle of sparking kikaichu surrounded the Kumo assassins. "Naruto... what are you doing?" The Konoha jinchuuriki was digging in his pack as one of his clones boiled water.

"He's making coffee," Hinata replied for him. "These are special circumstances, and there is something you have to remember about my squirrels." Curious, Kurenai raised an eyebrow, and Hinata went on. "Barring dire circumstances, you should never, ever, caffeineate a squirrel."

* * *

It took the coffee-jazzed squirrel less than an hour to reach Konoha, a trip that had taken Team Kurenai three days in the other direction. The scroll was in the Hokage's hands shortly after that, and the squirrel had returned from whence it came. Tsunade was chuckling as she read the report, and Hiruzen was overcome with curiosity, as she called for a message scroll.

"What trouble did they get into now?" he asked.

"Team Kurenai have managed to find the supposed crimes that they're in the Kumo Bingo Book for. Apparently, and let's see if you can follow this closely, they killed some Kumo diplomats. These diplomats received their orders to help straighten out the misunderstandings in the Bingo Book mere moments before the messengers turned out to be their assassins, and Team Kurenai showed up just in time to save them. So..."

Hiruzen picked up on the train of thought. "So they saved the people they're in the Bingo Book for killing, after they were put in the Book for killing them? Kumogakure is going to be such a laughingstock after this..."

On Tsunade's orders, a response team was quickly assembled and sent to take custody of the assassins, and to deliver new orders for Team Kurenai.

* * *

Orochimaru was disappointed by the showing these so-called 'assassins' had put on. He didn't want to tip his hand too soon, and if what he'd heard had been even halfway accurate, the girl had destroyed Itachi and the boy had eliminated Kisame... the rest of the Akatsuki would be looking into that problem, although their leader's unreasoning focus on jinchuuriki was of such intensity they'd have been looking that way anyway. But if what the 'Lost Sannin' suspected was true, then there were currently three jinchuuriki down there... odds he doubted even he could overcome. No, there would be another day, another place... and perhaps he'd still be able to get some Uchiha eyes... he just needed the right plan...

As he slipped away, his mind forming and discarding schemes, he vaguely wondered why the Akatsuki were so obsessed with the biju, beyond the obvious, of course... but if it was just power they wanted, then why did they want to collect them all?

* * *

In a hidden chamber, before a truly ugly statue, eight shadowy figures gathered. One of them, a man with a spiral mask with a single eyepiece, was uncharacteristically silent, where he would normally have been annoying the others with a strange voice and half-mad antics. The news about Itachi had hit him hard, there was some weakness to the sharingan after all, like the blind spot of the Byakugan, that an enemy could take advantage of... but he didn't know what it was. And the bad news didn't stop there.

"The Sanbi is no longer contained. Yagura was killed in the Kiri uprising, and even now they are replacing him. They received assistance from some new Hidden Village calling itself Shiogakure no Sato, and the Sanbi's essence was dispersed. It could be anywhere from two to twenty years before that blasted turtle reappears." The speaker, Akasuna no Sasori, was a former Suna ninja, and seemed more than a little upset that his target had been lost. "I recommend that we move on to the next target."

The leader, who was easily recognised by the black metal piercings all over him and the purple eyes with six concentric circles in each, spoke. "That will not work. We have come across information that has caused us to re-evaluate our current methods. All the biju must be manifest and contained at the time or this will not work. In addition, the biju must be returned in the same order from how they were separated from the original... from least powerful to most. So we will gather our information, and recruit back to full strength... can we recover the missing rings?"

One of the shadowy figures looked to be wearing a venus flytrap to hide his face. "I doubt it," he whispered, "but the attempt will be made. Do we know of any who will be strong enough to replace the renegade Uchiha and one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist?"

"We do not," the only woman among them said. "I will be keeping an eye on those who might fill such a role, and will do the recruiting personally."

Again the leader spoke, addressing two of the others who had not yet spoken. "I don't care how much is offered in any Bingo Book, the two of you are not to pursue Uzumaki or his team until I give the go-ahead. Once we have his biju, then we can worry about the bounties, not before."

The spiral-masked figure spoke up. "Perhaps if we wait long enough, Konoha will gather the biju for us? One stop shopping, fun for the whole family!"

* * *

The journey back to Konoha was a little more difficult with a half-dozen assassins as prisoners. Naruto was not confident in his ability to place living beings into storage scrolls, and have them come out alive at the other end. Once the retrieval team caught up to them, they could travel faster. The arrival of the Kumo diplomats that the messages said that the Uzumakis and their team were in the Bingo Book for made quite an impact, especially when it came out that the only reason that they'd survived _was_ the people who supposedly killed them. And that they'd been given orders stamped as having been issued before the killing, after the Bingo Book was released. It was a huge tangled diplomatic mess, and a great embarrassment, not only for Kumo itself, but also for the holdouts, those who felt that Naruto was the demon within him regardless of the evidence to the contrary and had called for him to be turned over... Surprisingly, very few of them had been 'tampered with' as the civilians and shinobi on the council had. Tsunade chalked it up to ignorance and stupidity, and let the pig-headed fools be... until they broke a law of course.

* * *

Konhamaru was back at the Academy that day for the first time in a week. Once the Hokage had pronounced him fully recovered (and who would know better?) he couldn't wait to get back. It was here that he found a slightly miffed pair of friends, Moegi and Udon, who'd been very worried about him since the incident. They knew that adults tended to put the best spin possible on things for children, and weren't sure if he was really okay or not. After greeting them, and blowing off their worries as nothing major, he turned and looked around the classroom.

Hanabi was sitting alone, as she had gotten used to, since most of the class insisted on judging her by her family name. She'd visited the hospital several times to see Konohamaru, but only when she could see he was about to go to sleep. She wasn't sure why he had this odd effect on her, but she always felt like hiding when he was near now. She put her forehead against the cool wood of her desk. "_Now I'm acting like Onee-chan used to around Naruto-nii,_" she thought. "_But I don't want to take _that_ long to figure things out... What do I do?_"

"Hey, Hana-chan," she heard, and she froze. There were exactly two people who could call her that. She raised her head a little, and saw Konohamaru and his two friends. "This is Moegi, and Udon. You ran off before I could say you're welcome, y'know. By the way, call me Kono-kun, like my grandpa and Naruto-nii-san do."


	20. Seal 20: Educate

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Battle plans _never_ survive first contact with the enemy... so be the enemy.

**Twentieth Seal: Educate.**

"We have to do _what_?" Naruto almost couldn't believe what he'd been told. Hinata and Shino were also surprised by their next mission, but were a bit quieter. Tsunade sighed as she prepared to repeat herself.

"Since I've had to send a jonin team on this mission, and it seemed tailor made for them, I sent Yuhi Kurenai and Mitarashi Anko with Sarutobi Hiruzen to deliver our discoveries to Tetsu no Kuni for impartial evaluation. As a result, I have your team sitting around with nothing to do but train, and since the Academy's standards for our ninja seem to be so lax, I felt that having a team of chunin teaching for the next few weeks would be a good thing. You just happened to be the first on the roster."

"Why is this so important to you, Hokage-sama?" Shino asked. "Usually a chunin who is assigned to teaching duties has some injury or other complication to prevent them from assuming regular duties, or they have chosen that path. While I do not deny that teaching is important, it is difficult to see the cadets as willing to learn from those barely older than themselves."

Tsunade shook her head. "You've caught me there," she admitted. "This mission was also requested by the teacher assigned to a particular class... the entering class this year, who believes that his students would benefit from meeting the Heroes of the Invasion up close."

Naruto nodded, it certainly sounded like Iruka-sensei's line of thinking. Tsunade, however, hadn't finished. "I don't know if you're aware of it, but one of the requirements before a chunin can be promoted is a period of duty at the Academy. Since jonin-sensei must be able to teach effectively, they must learn how, so some time at the Academy is needed to assess that. Each of you will need to figure out what field from the curriculum you will specialise in, and prepare a lesson and grading plan. Shizune will give you some scrolls on the curriculum and possible teaching methods and styles. Dismissed."

* * *

On reaching Ichiraku's, Team Kurenai had been discussing the shortcomings of the listed curriculum as compared to what they'd actually been taught. Hinata had decided to snap up the option to teach Chakra Theory and Control, where Naruto knew she'd excel. Shino surprised him by opting for the physical side of the learning, claiming Taijutsu and Weapons as his new domain. Naruto was still glaring at the list of subjects as he devoured his beef ramen. He had an idea, but it had been quite a while since he'd done anything like it... almost four years... no it would be four years in just a few weeks...

Team Ten arrived while they were eating, not such a surprising event, as Otome and Chouji both ate quite a bit, and had convinced Ino that more exercise would help keep the extra food away from her hips. Their last mission, with Shinshi-sensei, had been an escort task for a small caravan, and the bandits they'd faced had been numerous, if not particularly skilled. From the story they told, Ino had been very glad for Shinshi's harsh training on more than one occasion.

On learning of Team Kurenai's next assignment, Ino was startled. "No way! You haven't even been out of the Academy for a year, and the Hokage already wants you to teach?"

"It makes sense, kind of," Chouji said between bowls. "They made a big name for themselves at the Chunin Exams, and the kids at the Academy will have heard a lot about them, maybe enough that they'll pay attention."

Otome frowned a little. She was sure they were overlooking something. "Which class is it?" she asked, hoping to jog her memory that way.

"Entering year," Naruto said. "We're apparently young enough to be a novelty, and old enough that they might listen."

"You mean, the class with Sarutobi Konohamaru and Hyuuga Hanabi, among others?"

Naruto stopped in shock. "You're right..." he realised. "What am I going to do? Jiji-sama's going to kill me..."

"Why?" Hinata asked, and he handed over the sheet with the course he was planning to teach... Stealth, Situational Awareness and Traps.

* * *

Team Seven arrived at the gates of Konoha exhausted. The border patrol had not gone as planned, with ambushes and traps laid out for them on the Hi no Kuni side of the border. Most of these were by Kumo nin, although not very strong ones, rather it felt like some kind of test for the Kumo genin. Kakashi's orders had been to return the prisoners they took to Kaminari no Kuni, a task that he'd been able to accomplish by dropping the genin teams into a box on a wagon going that way. His genin had been forced to push themselves as never before, and as far as they were concerned, their relief had not been soon enough.

The masked jonin looked them over. Despite the rigours of their mission, the team was in fairly decent shape, although the curse mark had forced Sasuke to be miserly with his use of chakra and especially his sharingan. If he used either for too long, the black chakra tended to leak into his own. No-one had the least idea of what this stuff was, nor of where it came from, but the effects were... unpleasant enough that avoiding its use was a good plan. He was the worst injured of the team, with a gash on his outer right thigh that they'd barely managed to keep from infection as it slowly healed.

"_Now if only I had Naruto's kekkei genkai,_" Sasuke thought, "_then I'd have been healed within seconds, and this whole patrol would have been a walk in the park._" Naruto's presence in the Kumo Bingo Book they'd captured had been a startling revelation, as had the rest of Team Kurenai, and the disbelief that they belonged there yet lingered in Team Seven's minds.

Kiba was nursing Akamaru, the poor hound had taken a kunai to the hind leg in their last fight. It wouldn't have been a serious wound for a larger hound, but as it was, Akamaru was unable to walk. "Guys, I have to get home and get Hana to help Akamaru. You take care," he called over his shoulder as he took off.

Kakashi nodded. "I'll take care of the report to the Hokage," he said. "The two of you should visit the hospital, get something to eat, maybe visit the hot springs to relax... Take care and take it easy."

As their jonin-sensei disappeared in a swirl of leaves, Sakura wordlessly offered Sasuke her shoulder as they turned towards the hospital. She'd somehow instinctively figured out the secret behind Tsunade-sama's incredible strength, although not her endurance. She didn't ask or force him to do anything, she was just... there. It was somehow easier to accept, when she was pretending not to offer.

They were passing the Academy when they saw the members of Team Kurenai... well, Hinata and Shino, anyway. Shino was leaning against a tree while Iruka-sensei watched his students. Hinata was demonstrating the leaf-floating technique, but with a difference. "To truly achieve better control," she said as she twirled a leaf over each finger on her hand, "practice until you can manage this, and then..." she paused concentrating a moment, and the leaves began to twirl in opposite directions to their neighbours. Sakura didn't think she could manage that. "This can take a while to master, but if you can manage this, many other techniques will come to you far more easily."

As Sasuke grunted, Naruto stepped out of the shadows behind Hinata, delivering a quick kiss to her cheek, which caused the children to giggle. "Alright," he announced, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'll be teaching you the last third of our lesson. Now, all of you have different levels of and control of your chakra, and Shino already covered the regular combat arts, so I'm going to teach you the equalizer, the art of fighting without being there, and how to maintain situational awareness. Each of you has a number on a note taped to your back that I put there a few minutes ago. These numbers will tell you your teams for this exercise." He pulled out a scroll and unsealed a number of boxes. "The teachers here will recall the days when I was a terrible prankster, pulling pranks on ANBU, villagers and shinobi alike. It would make people angry when I caught them like that, and then I would get chased all over the village. After my... abduction... I became a bit more serious, and it came to me that had I chosen, the harmless pranks could have been so much worse. Substitute exploding tags for the paint I used, and we wouldn't have such a wonderful monument of the Hokages to admire." At this, every child looked up at the mountain. Naruto smiled, a foxy grin that conveyed a sense of great mischief. "The key to all pranks is that they are simply non-lethal traps, intended to amuse everyone... except the poor person caught in them. You need to plan. Remember this: Prior planning prevents poor performance."

As the class chorused after the blond youth's words, Sasuke snorted... but not contemptuously, as might once have been the case. As he and Sakura continued their journey to the hospital, he spoke. "I wonder if the Hokage realises exactly what she's let Konoha in for."

* * *

The biggest gossip around the village, Ino found, involved the name Uzumaki in one way or another. If the people discussing the name were older, there was often puzzlement in the voices, or someone firmly setting out some information. If they were younger, it was awe, almost hero worship in some cases, especially if the kids involved were of an age for the Academy. Shino seemed to be granted status as an 'Honorary Uzumaki' as far as they were concerned, and the lessons their team taught were talked into the ground. As for those people of their own age, the talk often centred around the surprise of their marriage. The new Team Eight and their sensei, Tsuru Shikunshi, were originally the team from Kumo that had taken part in the Chunin Exams before defecting... and now there were other Kumo nin here, but whether they would stay Kumo or not was a matter of much discussion, and once again the Uzumaki name was right in the middle.

As the blonde kunoichi hated to be the last with the news, even if all she wanted to do was say "Oh, that," dismissively, she had begun to research the name... There were only two entries in the records before Naruto, although now there were three others, a total of six, but Ino felt she could safely disregard them at this point. Uzumaki Mito had been the Shodaime's wife, taking up the Senju name, and she had died something over thirty years ago... at over a hundred years of age! The exact age was not recorded, but she'd been part of Konoha for at least that long. Still, she was unlikely to have any direct connection to Naruto.

The other Uzumaki was named Kushina, and originally came from Uzushiogakure no Sato... like Mito... for an unspecified reason, and remained here until her death on October tenth, almost fourteen years ago now. Just two weeks shy of it, in fact. She paused... and flicked the pages of the registry to Naruto's name. Born... October tenth... almost fourteen years ago. Flipping the pages back to the entry for Kushina, she checked the cause of death... Childbirth complications...

But wasn't October tenth that year the day the Kyuubi attacked? What did that have to do with these two? Setting these questions aside, she began reading and taking notes, locating all the information she could on the woman who was most likely Naruto's mother.

* * *

Tsunade looked at the complaints that had piled up on her desk, and turned to Naruto. "Do you see that?" she asked, pointing. He nodded. "So explain to me why I'm getting all these complaints from citizens of Konoha, please. They all seem to be the sorts of things you used to get up to, and that's why I wanted to speak to you."

Naruto smiled. "While I did not perform any of the actions that engendered these reports and complaints, I freely admit that I have had a hand in their conception and execution," he said, placing a copy of his 'lesson plan' on the desk. At first glance it seemed to be a list of pranks and mischief, but then he provided a list of substitutions for the components that nearly turned Tsunade white. "I'm teaching them Stealth, Situational Awareness and Traps," he went on, "and any of the pranks that they have performed could easily have been a lethal trap set in its place. Contact poisons in place of itching powder, explosive tags instead of paint, razor wire instead of trip-cords... and my students have been tested on harder targets each week... sort of grading assignments. If they do get busted, they have to run, which also helps their fitness and evasion skills. I make sure they're not caught outright, and I grade their work on the Monday. If you have this many complaints... ask how their security was so poor that Academy first-years could find ways around it."

Tsunade turned to face the young man she'd always seen as something of a grandson for the past five years or so. "When do you test them on the Hokage's residence?"

Naruto shrugged. "Someone has to prank Anko successfully first."

* * *

Naruto had arranged the class so they worked in four-member teams, with a randomly chosen leader. In the group that wound up bearing the number eight, this turned out to be Konohamaru. The luck of the draw had his cadet-team consisting of his closest friends, Udon, Moegi and finally Hanabi. As a team, they meshed incredibly well. Udon was a good strategist and long-term planner, Hanabi made a superlative scout, Moegi had memorised several variations of each prank that used the materials they brought with them and showed a genius with improvised materials, and Konohamaru had an instinctive grasp on improvised tactics when things went sour.

Like now for instance. They'd managed the planning, and snuck into their target's apartment, and Hanabi had kept an eye out while Moegi directed the boys in placing the prank. Hanabi's hissed warning alerted them to the target's return, and Udon and Moegi got away clean, but Hanabi was caught in the open and panicking... Konohamaru had plenty of time to escape, but that tiny part of him that had thrown him between this girl and that missing nin was in charge, apparently, as he quickly moved to her side and planted his lips on hers like he'd seen Naruto-nii-san do to his wife, just as the door opened.

Mitarashi Anko was astounded to see two kids kissing in the middle of her living room, and paused. "Sorry, must have the wrong door," she said closing it behind her as she pulled back. Then she checked the number, and realised it was her apartment, but by the time the door was open, the two brats had gone. Muttering she went to get herself some dango from her fridge... dango that had been treated with a serve of wasabi...

* * *

At the scream that echoed across the village, Naruto turned to Tsunade. "That'll be next weekend, then, Tsunade-sama," he said, as the Hokage pushed back her hat and dropped her face into her palm.

* * *

"K-Kono-kun," Hanabi said quietly. "Why'd you kiss me?"

"I'm sorry I had to kiss you there, Hana-chan," the boy said. "It should have been some place special, and I should have asked, but it was an emergency and you froze up and I had to do something... I hope this doesn't make you mad..."

Hanabi thought carefully. That had been how Onee-chan kissed Naruto-nii, she knew. It... wasn't bad. "It was kind of nice... The next one had better be in the right place and time, then."

Konohamaru's mind blanked as they hurried to meet the other two. "_Next one?_" he thought, and a goofy smile spread across his face...

* * *

"Hanabi has been telling me about the lessons you are giving at the Academy," Hiashi said, as his eldest daughter carefully and precisely prepared the tea. Naruto preferred coffee, but there was something relaxing in the ceremony, she found. He'd learned how, for her, but it was still far and away more her style than his. Now, she offered her father the tea.

"What exactly is it that concerns you about this, father?" she asked as he sipped gently at the brew after the requisite pause for contemplation. "Have I done anything wrong?"

"No," he replied. "Far from it, you have instituted a grand change, one I had failed to convince the Hyuuga elders to permit. Your mother believed that the cadets would benefit from instruction in our chakra control exercises, but the elders forbade her from teaching them... something they seem to have forgotten to do with you. And now it is far too late for them to forbid you anything, as they have no authority over the Uzumaki. It is well, daughter. It is well."

They sat there for a while, sipping their tea, with Hinata basking in the glow of her father's pride in her, and waited for Naruto to return.

* * *

Ino was patient and careful, with her plan forming quietly. Her first accomplice had been successfully recruited within days of her locating the information on Naruto's mother, and at _that_ accomplice's suggestion, she had expanded her list to a large number of Academy students and the Hokage, as well as a number of others from around the village, and she was waiting for the last three possible accomplices to invite into this little conspiracy. As the trio of targets entered the village, she approached them, putting her request in quick, simple terms, to which they agreed.

As Ino walked away, knowing the preparations that were taking place, she smirked. "_Soon, Uzumaki Naruto,_" she mused, "_soon you will get exactly what you deserve..._"

* * *

Naruto woke on a day he normally considered the worst in his life, to find himself strapped firmly into a chair in a dark room. He wasn't alone, he could hear the others, and with a bit of effort, smell them too. No-one was scared or fearful, and there were no scents that he associated with stress, pain or other things to be expected from captivity. A single candle lit, and Ino stood before him. "Uzumaki Naruto," she said solemnly. "There has been a great injustice arrayed against you. Those of us here gathered stand here to make this right. I am the one responsible, and so I am the one to lead you through this night, a rite that each and every one of us, save only you, has been subject to." A second candle lit, revealing Hinata, and Ino continued. "Despite the darkness of your life, you have found a companion, someone to show you how to walk in the light of love, and you had the good sense not to let her go when you stumbled into her heart." Shino appeared, illuminated by his lightning kikaichu, and Kurenai lit her candle. "When others saw you as you should have been seen all along, and accepted you for who you are, you did not push them away. You valued them, and grew stronger for them and for their own sakes you helped them grow as well." Ino signalled to everyone in the room, and they all lit their candles. "Everyone here has been touched by your life in one way or another, and we have all come together for this most solemn rite."

Naruto was starting to worry, now, as things seemed to be getting serious. What injustice did these people set themselves to right that would be this dire, that it took all the people whose lives he'd touched? As each and every person in the room drew in their breath, he braced himself for the worst... as they began to sing. "Happy Birthday to you..."

* * *

After he'd been set loose by Hinata and kissed and hugged soundly, he guessed it could have been worse. Hinata had to have helped the pranksters, or he would have woken in a moment at the unfamiliar scents, and Ino had been the instigator of the event, so Naruto's first real birthday party could be considered a success... even if the usual festival _was_ going on outside. The presents tended towards the practical... jutsu scrolls, dining vouchers, even Tenten gave him a voucher for a free weapon fitting at her father's store that covered both him and Hinata. Ino's gift however, a collaboration with several jonin and the Hokage, was different. A large book, an album of pictures and stories... about one Uzumaki Kushina. The book was only half-filled, though. "I'm sorry Naruto," Ino said. "I tried, but I couldn't find anything about your dad, not even his name."

Naruto waved aside her apologies. "I'm sure several people know who he is, Ino," he said. "I know his name, and why he's stayed a secret, and exactly what it means. Maybe someday I can tell everyone, but for now... for now he has to stay a secret." He held his Hinata-hime close and tight. He'd shared the secret with her and she'd agreed, if reluctantly, with his reasoning. Still, it was a good night, he felt.

Anko was staring at him. "How do you do it?" she asked, and he quirked an eyebrow up to invite her to clarify. "I bribed your star pupils, the ones who pranked _me_, to put laxatives in your drink, and they should be kicking in now. So how?" She took a swig from her cup.

"Oh, that," he said off-handedly. "I switched cups with you."

* * *

Naruto looked at the grades he'd assigned for everyone in his class. Shino had found the various students one of the several styles in Konoha that suited them, and although for most that was the standard Academy style, there were others for whom this didn't fit. Udon, as an example, was better suited to an improvised weapon art, whereby anything from paper-clips to chairs, garden tools to ladders, could become a deadly weapon. He set him some exercises of an interesting nature: any room he walked into, Udon had to find ten things he could use to attack an enemy. The boy was managing a solid eight out of ten, and blending it with Academy style taijutsu. He pointed Hanabi towards her sister, as well, for the Hyuuga girl was better suited to the Gentle Storm that Hinata was developing than the main Gentle Fist style.

Hinata's classes had obvious results, as her students were well on their way to mastering the leaf-floating exercise. Even Konohamaru had managed it with one leaf, and several had progressed to two, while Hanabi had four, and was now working on their direction.

Perhaps it wasn't surprising that Naruto's class had become the most popular amongst the students. An entire course wherein you not only were taught _how_ to prank people, but got _graded_ on how well you did? What kid wouldn't love it? Add to that a teacher who gave extra credit for pranking _him_, and it was a recipe for instant success. It was as he was about to leave as his last class finished that Konohamaru interrupted his exit.

"Naruto-sensei, wait," he called, and the blond shinobi turned, as the class rose as one.

"Naruto-sensei," they chorused, as they bowed deeply. "Thank you very much."

"It has been my honour," he replied in a voice that hitched on the last syllable, and as he left the room, only Hinata saw the lone tear of happiness as it made its way down his cheek.


	21. Seal 21: Recover

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Foolproof does _not_ mean proof that you're a fool.

**Twenty-first Seal: Recover.**

Tsunade looked at the mission requests before her as she contemplated the past weeks while Naruto had been teaching at the Academy. The children had loved it, of course, but the parents... not so much. Overall, it had been a success, she decided.

Now she had to find their next mission assignment. Flicking through the orders from the Daimyo and the requests from everyone else was not easy. There were reports from years back mixed in with this, and Hiruzen had shared with her his deduced secret to dealing with paperwork, but she didn't have sufficient reserves, what with her constant henge and the focus point on her forehead, for more than a handful of clones...

Opening the next scroll gave her just what she was looking for...

* * *

Naruto and Hinata were awake almost instantly, and were up by the time the door-chimes' melody faded away. As Naruto, quickly dressed in his 'working clothes', opened the door, Hinata was already preparing a quick breakfast of rice-balls and tea, or coffee for her husband. Naruto's shadow clones were doing a quick cleaning run, and by the time Kurenai had reached the table, a place had been set for her, as well, and the clones were dispersing, their chores complete. As they ate, their sensei explained her arrival. "The Hokage wants Team Kurenai for a specific recovery mission," she said. "She recently received a request from an old friend in Cha no Kuni, and sent Team Seven on the B-rank bodyguard mission. However, Master Jiraiya's spies have reported the movement, from Ame, of a renegade Konoha shinobi, a traitor by the name of Rokushou Aoi. He was of similar mind to Mizuki, and we believed he tricked the genin who was actually accused of the crime into running with him, although it was reported by the ninja sent to deal with them that the boy was dead." She paused, and looked at the couple in front of her. "We have since discovered that the boy is still alive... in fact, he is most likely the runner that we just sent Team Seven to guard. Morino Idate."

Both chunin gasped, and Hinata was the first to recover her voice. "I-is he any relation t-to Ibiki-sama?" At Kurenai's nod, the two looked at each other.

"Ibiki was also the ninja sent after them that day, I believe it was five years ago, plus some months," Kurenai added. "I doubt he'd have let even his little brother go if he wasn't convinced of his innocence in the theft, but he never did think Idate was suited to be a ninja." She sighed. "But that's not important now. Your mission is to deal with Aoi, and recover the artifact with which he bought his way into becoming an Ame jonin, the sword of the Nidaime Hokage, the Raijin."

"Wait a second," Naruto said, rising quickly to his feet with his hands on the table. "What do you mean, 'your mission'? Aren't you coming with us?"

Kurenai shook her head. "Tsunade-sama wants you to do this without me. Apparently the results from your last mission were... impressive. Now she wants to see if the quality stays the same on other missions. Instead of leading you, I'll be covering the basics and practice of genjutsu at the Academy for three weeks. Oh, and Naruto, Anko would still like a... how _did_ she put it? A frank and _pointed _discussion with you about one group of cadets and two switched drinks, whatever she means by that."

"Uh... wow, look at that, we have a mission to do, what _awful_ timing," he said quickly, a large and nervous grin across his face.

* * *

The forest flashed past as the three shinobi, operating as Team Uzumaki for this mission, with Hinata in charge, raced towards the border with Kawa no Kuni. Unless this Aoi was a complete fool, he would avoid Hi no Kuni like the plague, which meant that to get from Amegakure no Sato to Cha no Kuni, he would have to go through the river-studded nation and charter a boat at the port. If they could intercept him, Team Seven's job would be a lot easier, but if not, they were certain they could track him down. The silence as they ran and leapt, their pace eating away the miles, was... comforting, especially to Naruto, who didn't hear an irritated Anko coming after them...

* * *

"I see him," Hinata said, staring out at the ship receding on the horizon. "He's out of reach, unless we could suddenly fly." Neither her summons nor Shino's that were capable of flight were able to carry anyone that far. Running on the water would leave them in the open for far too long, civilian transport was dicey at best, and they had no Hi no Kuni contacts here. If they stopped here, their target would truly escape, and likely reach Cha no Kuni before Team Seven and their civilian guide. It was frustrating.

"Hinata," Naruto spoke up suddenly, after looking around the waterfront. As she turned to her husband, he pointed at a ship that had the blue wave emblem of Nami no Kuni. "Do you think _they_ might be willing to give us a lift?"

* * *

As it turned out, the captain was very co-operative. Their reputation as some of the people responsible for taking down Gatou gave them some credit with the sailors, and shortly thereafter, they were in pursuit of the slower passenger vessel. The Nami ship was able to keep the ferry in sight, but from the start, it was obvious that the other ship would still make port before they caught it. The open sea was too new a challenge for their water-walking abilities, something they all took note to get practice in once they got back, since they could not always be guaranteed a peaceful surface to the water they had to traverse.

As the passenger ferry began to dock, the Konoha shinobi could wait no longer. "Thanks, captain," Naruto called back over his shoulder. "We'll just have to walk from here!"

With that, at Hinata's nod, the three ninja jumped over the rail, pushing chakra through their feet to begin their run to shore.

* * *

Rokushou Aoi glared back at the Nami vessel in time to see three figures leap from the side and begin to run towards the shore... ninja! Turning to his team, he pointed. "Those ninja, I need you to scout and tell me where they're from, and what they're after. Then we can meet up with the client. Oh, and if they spot you... kill them." As he went to leave the boat, he glanced back over his shoulder. Perhaps the Wagarashi weren't the only ones hiring ninja to manipulate the race... although all the stories of the Wasabi had them as more honourable than that. Oh, well, all men bleed the same colour...

* * *

Mubi looked across at Kagari and Oboro, who each signalled their readiness. As they held themselves still, they were alert, ready to act as soon as the traps went off... The three ninja that were following them entered the clearing and froze, right in the middle of the traps, and the Ame ninja revealed themselves on the branches as their targets stood there helpless as the ninja-wire entangled them inescapably, and the explosive-tag laden kunai thudded into the ground around them. They were from Konoha by their hitai-ate, the one in the long coat and dark glasses wore his on his brow, and the other two, a boy and girl in matching jackets of orange and black, wore theirs around their necks, and all three were clad in the dark green utility vests that marked Konoha chunin.

Despite being mere genin, they knew enough of Aoi's past that he wouldn't want any Konoha nin chasing him down. They also clearly remembered these three as passing those blasted Chunin Exams last month, when the Ame nin had been disqualified from the Exams in the second round in minutes! It had to have been a set-up. "Hey, Oboro," Mubi called out, "they're your tags, what do you think?"

Oboro favoured the kunai with explosive tags, but waved to Kagari first. "More oil," he said. "Then we can have a barbecue!"

Kagari flicked his hands through the jutsu and braced, spraying the oil from his mouth over the three trapped ninja, and as Mubi lifted his crossbow, Oboro set his hands in the right seal and channelled his chakra, setting off the explosive tags. As the clearing was engulfed in flames, a roar of fire dragging the air inward for a moment, Mubi took out the directions Aoi had given him. "Now to see where Aoi wanted us to meet up..." He was distracted momentarily, by three popping noises from within the flames... he didn't recall seeing anything in the clearing that would do that...

The scroll with his directions was snatched from his grasp by a feminine hand, while another hammered him in the gut, and a hurricane of chakra powered through him. The last thing Mubi heard before consciousness abandoned him was Hinata's soft voice. "Arigato, Ame-san, we needed that scroll."

Kagari couldn't see well through the leaping flames but he thought someone had appeared on the branch next to Mubi, and was about to investigate when the swarm of insects rose from under him, engulfing the hapless ninja and muffling any noise he might have made, the crackle of their lightning chakra discharge lost in the noise of the fire in the clearing.

Oboro was startled by the popping sounds, and the white smoke that replaced the three Konoha ninja in the clearing immediately informed him of their actual nature... shadow clones! As he began to form the hand signs to the kawarimi no jutsu, expecting himself to be attacked at any time, he felt three sharp points against his belly, and sharp pain in both hands, which had been _pierced_ by three exceedingly sharp claws made of some strange alloy that emerged from the hand of the male ninja in the orange jacket. "No hand seals," Naruto said quietly, "no jutsu. Please don't resist, you're in no shape for it." The Ame ninja could only agree...

The scroll was sufficiently detailed as to where the Ame shinobi were to meet the clients, but did not reveal the path this Aoi was planning to take to get there. Naruto was barely able to make out a scent on the scroll, but it belonged to the crossbow wielding shinobi. Hinata's Byakugan seemed their best bet for locating the treacherous ninja, but she had to have him in range... after divesting their prisoners of any weapons and equipment before tying them to a tree with ninja wire. Hinata was a little generous... or she was imitating Anko, as she left an emergency medical kit sitting on a log on the opposite side of the clearing from the bound ninja. Kagari had a number of senbon, which Hinata claimed, while Oboro's explosive tags were taken by Shino, and Mubi's crossbow and bolts found their way to Naruto. Leaving the secured shinobi to wake on their own, Team Uzumaki raced through the trees.

* * *

Oboro looked around at the clearing. They'd been nice enough to bandage his hands so he wouldn't bleed to death, but the bandages, in combination with his injuries, meant he couldn't make hand seals, nor could he effectively attempt escape. Mubi would likely take quite a while to wake, the girl's eyes screamed Hyuuga at him, so it looked like he was just going to have to wait for Kagari to recover. "_Oh, well,_" he thought, "_it could be worse... it could be raining._"

In the distance, there was a rumble of thunder...

* * *

Aoi heard the three ninja racing towards him from the trees. He quickly hid, and observed as his genin landed... but something was off. They didn't move quite right, he thought. He'd been an Academy instructor in Konoha for a long time, and as the shinobi below him moved around, taking a break from the attempt to catch up to him, he noticed a few things about them that weren't the same as his team. The one that looked like Mubi was constantly adjusting the fit of his crossbow, the way it sat. Mubi had that down to an art. Kagari's replacement moved differently, like a woman, and Oboro's impostor didn't have that habit of stretching out his neck while resting. If they weren't his genin, that meant they'd lost... and that these three were simply going to have to die...

* * *

The hail of senbon needles that poured from the trees was not entirely unexpected, and Hinata's cry of "Poison!" as the trio dropped their henge transformations was all the warning Naruto needed to cover both his wife and his best friend with enough shadow clones to keep them from injury, although doing so left him open to the deadly steel rain. The burning sensation as the senbon struck confirmed it to be a severe poison, probably intended to be lethal in minutes. Dropping to one knee, he began pulling out the slender steel weapons, deliberately trembling his hands a little. His Sokai Katsuryoku bloodline was already neutralising the toxin. Hinata and Shino had ducked behind trees, and although he was tempted to signal the plan to them, Aoi would understand such signals as easily as their intended recipients. With a look towards Hinata, a puzzled demeanour that he hoped she could see through, he collapsed.

As Naruto fell, Hinata almost darted out after him, but forced herself not to leave cover. Naruto was down, and she wasn't sure how quickly his bloodline burned through poisons, or even how effectively. But there was nothing to be done about it at this point. Her Byakugan was active, and telling her where Aoi was... and that Naru-kun's breathing was steady, unchanged! He hadn't been that affected after all... so he was trying to deceive the former Konoha ninja, and her reaction had to be as real as possible... "Shino!" she called out. "Can you tell if Naruto's okay from there? He was hit, but I didn't see how many senbon he took."

Shino spotted the fallacy. With her Byakugan, Hinata could have counted _all_ the senbon, and the insect-wielder quickly made the connection. "I'm afraid not," he replied, releasing a large number of his kikaichu to circle the area. "This kind of ambush really bugs me. We should have left the mission to those three chunin from the Exams." It was an improvised code, and relied on his team-mates understanding his references, but with Aoi right there, they didn't have much choice.

"You're right," Hinata replied, "But you know Naruto, always in the middle of things." She'd gotten the message, and hoped that Naruto did too.

* * *

Aoi jumped down from the tree he'd hidden in. The fool in the open had no chance against the toxin on his senbon, but they didn't know that. Taking the Raijin from his belt, he poured his chakra into it, and the crackling blade of golden lightning appeared. "Ah, ah, ah," he said as he poised the blade above the blond. "You two had better step out where I can see you. The poison on the senbon is relatively painless, but the blade of the Raijin is nowhere near as pleasant... and I can take my time if you don't step out where I can see you." As an example, he touched the sword lightly to Naruto's back, and the boy convulsed as the lightning of the sword poured into him... and Hinata spotted something Aoi hadn't, not knowing what he was looking for. Naruto had pushed out the bonemetal spikes on his back, and his ribs had grown small spikes at the front that kept contact with the ground... Naruto wasn't getting hurt anywhere near as much as Aoi thought, and she knew Shino wouldn't be able to see any clues... so it was her turn.

As the girl stepped out from behind the tree, Aoi levelled the Raijin at her, then saw her eyes... she was a Hyuuga... but that meant she knew exactly how many senbon had hit her fallen friend... and the responses after that had the feel of some kind of team-based code, now that he knew to be suspicious. Whirling about to his left, he saw the kikaichu and flickered his left hand through a series of one-handed seals. "Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

The fireball tore through Shino's swarm, and the Aburame chunin winced, feeling the lives of so many of his allies vanishing forever. Then Aoi spun and lunged with the Raijin, thrusting directly at the Hyuuga girl's heart. It never got there. The boy who'd been lying in the open all this time had surged to his feet, claws of odd metal emerging from his hands with a meaty 'snikt', and lacing around the blade of the Raijin, pinning it in place. The lightning was surging into the brat, but it wasn't having any... no, it was hurting him, and the smell of flash-burned flesh was there, but the young chunin was ignoring it.

Hinata saw the spikes that came from her husband's heels, and saw the lightning energy crackling through the bonemetal, grounding out in the earth beneath him, as he yelled out. "NOW!"

Hinata slipped to the side of Aoi, her eyes wide, as the traitor to _her_ village reluctantly released his prize, and with the cessation of his chakra, the Raijin, bladeless, fell to the ground, as did Naruto, groaning as the spikes on his heels pulled loose from the dirt. Hinata's focus narrowed to Aoi and every move he made... he was going for a different weapon, maybe not one as good as the Raijin, but still...

"Uzumaki Art," the young kunoichi said, and Aoi's eyes widened... he knew that name... "Gentle Storm: Eight Winds, Sixty-four Thunders!"

No-one else there could see how time seemed to slow for her, although Naruto's whisker-marks had flared blue, and he could feel the speed at which she moved as he pushed himself up far enough to watch the finale. The path to the sixty-four prime tenketsu were wide open to her eyesight as she struck, her chakra hammering with the elemental force of a thunderstorm while leaving little physical damage, as she pretty much destroyed the renegade's chakra network, strike after strike, starting with his arms and overwhelming him in short order. As the battered and powerless form of the former Konoha shinobi crumpled to the ground, Hinata dropped to her knees. "That was more draining than I thought," she noted, panting a little as her Naru-kun levered himself off the ground and made his way to her. The faintly burned smell he gave off was fading as his kekkei genkai mended the damage, and he lowered himself to sit beside her.

Shino, too, sat down, although on a nearby rock. "My primary colony took quite a hit, it's at sixty percent, and my secondary is at eighty. If we can avoid needing to do this again..."

Naruto nodded. His vision was still a little blurry... even with a lightning affinity, letting that much power flow through him had really hurt. "As soon as I'm not seeing double, I'll seal him in a prison scroll. It'll hold till we get back to Konoha."

* * *

Travel back was at a more leisurely pace, and the captain from Nami was happy to deliver them to a port in Hi no Kuni. From there it was a matter of days to return. As they crested the hill to see the gates of Konoha before them, Naruto embraced Hinata. They were home.

Ibiki was _very_ happy with the 'souvenir' they brought him, although Rokushou Aoi... not so much. The suggestion that he share breaking this traitor with Anko won Naruto the kunoichi's forgiveness for the pranks. Tsunade was pleased to receive the Raijin, and took them to a training ground to show them why it was considered a treasure of Konoha. "What size blade did Aoi make?" she asked.

"Approximately the size of a katana, by my estimation," Shino supplied.

"That's because he didn't have a lightning affinity, nor did he have large reserves of chakra," Tsunade explained. My great-uncle used to say that Raijin's size was based in those. I myself don't have a lightning affinity, but my reserves are larger than his..." The blade she managed to generate was a good foot longer than Aoi's.

When offered the chance, the three chunin jumped at the chance to see how big they could make it. Since all three had the affinity, it was decided that Shino would go first. The Raijin in his hands was somewhere between the Hokage's effort and the size of Aoi's, but a large part of Shino's chakra flow _did_ go to his kikaichu. Hinata focused on the weapon, and her blade resembled the sword Zabuza used... before Naruto had truncated it. When Naruto lifted the hilt, he managed a blade of twice that size easily.

As she locked the Raijin away, Tsunade hoped that Naruto never needed to take up this blade... and that he never needed to use the Kyuubi's chakra through it...

* * *

"Bring him to me," they were ordered. "I have no patience for his wants and desires. Go into that pitiful village, find him, break the seals binding his curse-mark and bring him to me. I _will_ have those eyes." And so the remainder of Orochimaru's elite set forth. Their target was Uchiha Sasuke, and there was no room for them to fail. The three who'd survived the Chunin Exams and the botched Invasion were joined by their predecessor, who had been recovering his strength for just such a need. Kaguya Kimimaro was again leading the Oto Elite. Time was short.

* * *

Sasuke sat in the tree contemplating the future. His brother was no longer a factor, caught and blind as he was, and rebuilding his clan was a matter of his own choice now. He still trained hard and the missions he was selected for were a decent challenge, but there was something missing. He had no-one to measure himself against, not really. Kiba was a good friend, a decent second in command, but his progress was in a direction that Sasuke couldn't duplicate, lacking a partner like Akamaru. The last mission had been fairly easy, and the three Ame nin who had shown up were woefully unprepared. Sakura had dealt with one of them herself... It actually surprised the young Uchiha how much he noticed her, once she finally stopped chasing him. She'd begun to knuckle down and study medical jutsu and genjutsu, and was performing exercises intended to expand her chakra reserves, and her growth since the Chunin Exams was already surprising.

He lay back against the trunk as he watched the Academy students emerge from their classes for the day. There was a familiar pattern down there every now and then, but a small group of four cadets seemed to have pretty much become the self-appointed protectors of the playground. As they paused for a moment at the lighter earth near where that shrk freak had been taken down, Sasuke realised who he was trying to measure himself against, and the shock nearly had him plummet from the branch.

Naruto. Ever since his abduction all that time ago, Naruto had been improving. He was getting stronger so fast, that no-one realised exactly how strong he really was. Sasuke recalled the way Naruto had been treated in the basic schools, and how a lot of the village had kept treating him, right up until the Chunin Exams, and Orochimaru's attempted invasion. After that it was like a lot of adults were waking up from a bad dream, and seeing what was actually in front of them...

He jumped down from the tree, and started to walk in the direction of the Uzumaki district, as people had started to call the neighbourhood next to the Hyuuga estate. Naruto had flatly forbidden any kind of massive walls like around the old Uchiha compound, saying it promoted pig-headedness and arrogance. Individual yards were better.

As he passed an alley, no different from any other, he felt a dart strike his neck, and knew no more...


	22. Seal 22: Retrieve

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. What does not kill me has made a glaring tactical error.

**Twenty-second Seal: Retrieve.**

"Hokage-sama, it's horrible!" Shizune was almost panicked at the news she bore, and as Tsunade's brow furrowed in puzzlement, her first apprentice blurted out the rest of it. "Sakura reported in, Uchiha Sasuke didn't show up for training like he _always _does, and the ANBU and Inuzuka trackers have found signs of a disturbance... we think he's been kidnapped!"

* * *

This couldn't have happened at a worse time... most of her jonin were busy on other assignments, Kurenai and Anko were supervising the Academy field trip, Kakashi was on another mission, and someone waltzes into Konoha and abducts the Last of the Uchiha, taking down the gate guards on the way out. They were just lucky the kidnappers were more interested in escape than witnesses, or she'd have two dead jonin on her hands. Tsunade wasted no time in mustering the troops, calling in a fresh chunin to head this squad was a necessity she'd have preferred to avoid. "Nara Shikamaru, your mission is as follows. Sometime last night, Uchiha Sasuke was taken from Konoha, presumably against his will. You are in charge of assembling a team to get him back... by force If necessary. I have no jonin available, and there's only a handful of battle-ready chunin." She handed him a list. "You may select your retrieval squad from these, as well as any promising genin you are aware of. Any questions?"

For once, the lazy Nara was serious, without a scrap of hesitation. "No, Hokage-sama." He was already forming a team in his head... A glance at the scroll showed that two of the three chunin were available. Shino was off the active duty roster until he replenished his colonies' losses, apparently...

* * *

Otome, Naruto and Hinata were eating breakfast as Shikamaru arrived. "The Hokage has a mission for you three," he said, "and time is short. Let's go, we need to get a couple of others."

They went with a grim silence.

Ginkumo Kura still wasn't used to the way this hitai-ate sat, but he knew what Shikunshi-sensei would want him to do. "If the only person to beat me at shogi says he needs my talents, who am I to say otherwise?"

Shaking the last chip from the packet, Shikamaru was braced and ready as Chouji sailed past him, snatching both packet and chip. As his best friend chomped down on it, Shikamaru explained the situation as they all ran for the scene of the crime.

"So whoever these goons are, they got in, snatched Sasuke, and got out, taking down two jonin swordsmen to do it?" Naruto double-checked as they arrived at the alley where the ANBU had traced Sasuke to. "They'd have to be strong then." He sniffed the air, breathing deep to catch any scent in the area. "I've got his smell, but it's like they dunked him in something weird, smells of grease and old blood... There were four of them. One's a girl and they all have some kind of strange smell to them... like Sasuke's curse-mark actually."

Kura and Shikamaru glanced at each other, and the same question ran through each of their minds, although the Nara chunin was the one to ask it. "Can you follow their scents?"

Naruto glared at them. "Does Tsunade-sama hit like an elephant?"

* * *

In her office, the Hokage sneezed, and Shizune made a note to get her some cold medicine, just in case.

* * *

The four of them had paused to rest. Jiroubou had set down the giant bucket-shaped container that hid their captive from the world, but the solid darkness inside it would have been off-putting enough on its own to cause questions, even if those two jonin _hadn't_ caught them red-handed dosing the Uchiha boy and slapping Orochimaru's seal-breaking tag on his curse-mark. They'd been pushed hard, and actually had to draw on the second stage of their curse-marks. Jiroubou was the best off out of them, with Tayuya a close second, but Kidomaru and Kimimaro were both wiped. The multi-armed shinobi and the bone-wielder had been the ones hardest pressed in that scuffle, and while Kidomaru was recovering nicely, Kimimaro's illness was taking its toll on him, dragging out his pain in a coughing fit that brought up blood with each wracking convulsion. Yet, they dared not stop for long...

* * *

Shikamaru had laid out the pursuit plan, With Naruto on point, he was scouting out the trail, and Shikamaru was next in line to adjust the plan and issue commands as needed. Then there was Kura with Chouji and Otome flanking him, for the a combination of traps and heavy hitters, and Hinata brought up the rear with her Byakugan covering the entire group and surrounding area... for a couple of miles. Tearing through the trees at the rapid pace they'd set was easy enough, and it seemed that the kidnappers were making for the northern borders, in the region of Ta no Kuni. They'd been going for a few hours when Hinata called that she'd spotted the Oto ninja, and Naruto halted as they set their plans for the intercept.

"I can't see Sasuke," Hinata pointed out, "but they do have a tub that would be large enough to carry him that's sealed solid. There's four of them... a large man, bigger than an Akimichi, another with six arms, a girl with some kind of metal hat, and the last one has white hair and dense chakra centred on his skeleton..." The group looked at Naruto for a moment and he shrugged.

"He could be the one Orochimaru used me to try to cure, but I can't be sure," the blond jinchuuriki said. "So who gets who?"

Shikamaru thought for a moment, setting his fingers in the odd position he used to focus his mind. "The big guy... there has to be more to him than just size. But he's definitely the heavy on their team. Chouji, Otome, he's yours. These guys are all at least chunin level, so two genin for one of them is a good plan, and then you catch up once he's dealt with. The guy with the arms... weapons most likely, and he probably plays on his resemblance to a spider, too... Kura, Hinata, the two of you take him down. The girl is probably the _least_ troublesome, so I call dibs on her... I'm fairly sure I can hold her long enough for someone to back me up. That leaves the last one for Naruto to _renew_ his acquaintance with. Other than that, the plan is simple: Live, and bring our friend home!"

* * *

The Konoha ninja were fresher as they continued to close the distance between the two groups, and the Oto shinobi had already used their curse-marks, a fatiguing enterprise and without sufficient rest, it was telling. In desperation the Oto elites spread out, coming to rest in a scattered formation guarding the tub. As the Konoha shinobi arrived, they were surrounded, and Jiroubou struck both his hands on the ground and drove his chakra into a doton, the Mud Dome Prison, catching all the ninja in the globe of dirt which promptly began to drain away their chakra.

"I'll finish them," he told his allies, "and then I'll catch up... wait a second, where'd they go?" Panicked, the over-large ninja began to look around as the Konoha shinobi emerged from hiding in the branches, surrounding their would-be ambushers. Chouji and Otome sprang down to the ground, Otome assuming her Skin of Stone form even as she began the chakra manipulation for Stone Bear, as the plan called for.

"You might have a little problem with your plans right now," Shikamaru said. "How about you undo those seals and let us take Sasuke back to Konoha? It'll be less troublesome than having to fight to the death." Several hurled kunai whistled past the lazy genius. "I guess that's a no..." As Jiroubou charged towards the tree with Shikamaru in it, and Otome and Chouji moved to intercept, Kimimaro grabbed up the tub with Sasuke in it and began the dash to the North, with Tayuya and Kidomaru in close pursuit. A quick glance down let Shikamaru see Chouji's thumbs-up, and the group left the two embattled shinobi to fight their mammoth opponent as they continued the chase.

* * *

As the rest of their group got into motion, the two ninja left to fight the massive Jiroubou prepared themselves for a hard fight. The Oto nin sneered. "You do realise they've sacrificed you, right?" he taunted them. "They have left the weakest of you to face me, gambling that they can stop the others before I can finish you."

Chouji snarled. Because he was bigger than most kids his age, people assumed he was fat and thus weak... he was willing to bet that the same people, or the same kind of people, at least, would assume that Otome's petite frame meant she was weak too. He was just going to have to show this guy he was wrong the hard way...

"Yup," Otome said, startling Chouji. "They left the two weakest of us behind, to deal with you. I think that Shikamaru kid was being careful... I can probably take you myself, but he had Chouji back me up, 'cause you can never guess what an enemy is capable of. Your best plans, they never survive contact with the enemy. But to you... we're the enemy..." She braced her stance, dropping both fists to her hips, elbows back, as if chambering for a basic taijutsu attack, and upped the cycling of her chakra to reinforce the muscles, tendons and bones...

Jiroubou closed and got his hand on her head, beginning to squeeze, and Chouji pumped chakra into his right arm for his Partial Expansion, driving his now-massive fist, the size of that tub from earlier, into Jiroubou's ample gut. The muscle under the layer of fat, which as he suspected was thinner than it looked, was hardened, so it was like... like hammering a blow into the oak training posts in the training grounds... but then, Chouji had broken those before, and Jiroubou hadn't been expecting such an effective hit at this time. As the larger man crumpled, he tightened his grip. If he could kill this girl quick, he could turn his attention to the little butterball and wipe him out...

The grisly sounding _snap_ that sounded made Chouji wince, and Jiroubou grinned... until the pain reached his brain, when he cried out... The girl had reached up and broken his thumb! Forced to release her, the big man stumbled back, using his other hand to quickly set the injured digit as the girl assumed an odd combat stance.

The Akimichi boy glanced at his fellow Konoha ninja, her skin gleaming like stone in sunlight as she took the main stance of the Stone Bear style. Her Skin of Stone kekkei genkai worked well with the chakra-cycling techniques she'd described to her new team, and with Hinata's assistance, she'd actually demonstrated one of the style's advantages. Through the cycling of chakra through the physical body, instead of the chakra coils, it became virtually impossible for such techniques and styles as the Gentle Fist to target the tenketsu and/or vital organs, due to the constantly shifting 'shield' of chakra that filled her skin. Indeed, she was working on surpassing her father, the Stone Bear himself. And he realised another advantage she had right now... with her chakra under such tight self-control, it would be very difficult for this Jiroubou to pull it away to devour himself.

Otome had seen Chouji's techniques in their training sessions and on the shared missions, and had idly wondered about the ways such techniques could be blended with the Stone Bear techniques... She'd come to the conclusion that the increased area would be too difficult to control the chakra flow over. An idea struck her as their opponent began to attack again, black lines beginning to extend from his curse-mark. Stepping behind Chouji, she snapped out the basic plan.

"Chouji, Human Boulder, spin as fast as you can," she said, grasping his shoulders and stepping up her chakra flow. He didn't fully understand why, but the young Akimichi complied, feeling the extra weight of his team-mate as a little extra, while powering towards Jiroubou. A little before impact, he felt Otome's hands release his shoulders as she allowed herself to be hurled at the larger Oto ninja at the high speeds that Chouji's technique had imparted, screaming out "Uzumaki Combination: Akimichi Catapult!" and flipping and twisting to lead with her heel in a spinning version of the Stone Bear axe-kick that drove the huge man to the ground, a significant divot in his forehead, his eyes already crossed and glazing over. But the sheer power of the manoeuvre had a price, and the sickening crack as even her heavily reinforced (by both the Stone Bear techniques and her kekkei genkai) leg broke... her thigh had given way at the same time as her shin, and tumbling across the ground didn't help... if anything it hurt more.

Chouji maintained his Human Boulder for a little longer as he ground Jiroubou's body into the dirt, releasing the jutsu as he reached a barely conscious Otome. "Why'd you do that?" he demanded of her, "we could have beat him without that kind of move..."

He was forced to hush by the girl's hand as she dropped her own techniques. "Because by the time we'd taken him down he'd have us both exhausted and hurt, and neither one of us would be able to get the other back to Konoha..." She gasped as he lifted her, almost passing out from the pain. She was fairly sure she shouldn't be seeing her bone sticking out of her thigh like that, and barely managed the next words before blacking out. "It could have taken days for someone to find us, but this way..."

Chouji looked down at his friend. The girl from Iwa had grown on him, and Ino loved having someone to shop with besides Sakura. Looking in the direction the retrieval squad had gone in, he whispered a few words before racing back towards Konoha.

"Good luck, all of you, I'll catch up soon."

* * *

Kidomaru cursed as he and his companions raced through the trees. "The brats split up," he told them. "Two of 'em stopped to hold back Lardbutt, and the rest are on our trail."

Kimimaro frowned. He was weakening more quickly, and with recent events in Konoha, this boy may well be Lord Orochimaru's last chance to get those Uchiha eyes. "And you would then recommend?" he asked, fighting back the urge to cough.

"I'll set a trap to catch some, and a bit further on, Tayuya peels away to catch the rest. That should give you enough lead-time to get the target to Orochimaru-sama." It wasn't a complex plan, and there was no way to make it fool-proof. If only they'd still had Sakon and Ukon...

* * *

Hinata spotted the explosive tags well ahead of their position, and unleashed her kunai and shuriken to detonate them, and the group landed in the clearing to regroup... it was at that point that Kidomaru's trap went off, and a web of strange silk-like material sprang up around them. As Kidomaru had planned, the pursuers were stuck, but they did not stay that way. Lightning chakra crackled on the soles of Kura's feet, and his kunai lashed out in a blur, severing the silk around Shikamaru and Naruto, while Hinata slapped the wall of silk beside her with a Gentle Storm strike that blew out a huge section of the webbing for them to continue the pursuit, although Naruto left with a lingering backwards glance as she directed the same mix of elemental chakra through her feet as through her hands, blasting her way free as she snagged a kunai from the air and began deflecting the rest of the steel rain that poured from the surrounding area.

"It's the six-armed one," she called out, and Kura, concealed behind a tree, nodded. Then something shot from the trees at a new angle, a gob of viscous fluid that slapped her hands together before hardening. With no chakra, the silken strands were not vulnerable to her technique... but she still held a sharp kunai.

The spider-like Oto ninja watched closely as the girl kept moving, and as she sliced away the silk around her hands, he smirked. The other one was weaker, probably only a genin, while this one... he remembered what she'd done at the Chunin Exams, and he was certain that she would be the greater threat. Grinning and silent, he activated his curse-mark as he triggered the next trap...

The silk ropes that lashed out from the trees this time were saturated in black chakra that resisted Hinata's attempts to cut it with the acquired kunai, and she was forced to wield the Gentle Storm to strike down and break these lines. The arrow that roared past her was barely deflected by her palm striking the shaft, and the friction of its passage burned a line across her palm as it hammered into the tree Kura was behind. The former Kumo genin seized his chance, and leaped out of cover, landing on the arrow with his feet crackling, and vanished from Kidomaru's sight as a large number of kunai and shuriken that were crafted from a harder version of this silk-like material thudded into the space he had been.

Kidomaru was struggling to push himself to activate the second stage of his curse-mark even as he heard a quiet voice, calm and imperturbable. "Lightning Step: Thunder Breaker..." His last sight before he heard the crunch of separating vertebra was the thickly cushioned and reinforced knee-pad on Kura's right knee. Afterwards, he wasn't really in a state to appreciate anything...

"Impressive move," Hinata panted. Her dodging and blocking had eaten away a good-sized portion of her chakra reserves. "Why couldn't he dodge?"

Kura smiled. "Lightning travels at roughly 150 kilometres per second, Hinata-san. By the time he'd thrown his weapons, it was already too late. Unfortunately, I have to have a conductive surface to cross, but his webs had to conduct his chakra, or your Gentle Storm would not have affected them. After that, it was a matter of opportunity. Did I do anything you would suggest be done differently?" As Hinata shook her head, he checked on the Oto ninja, surprised to find him alive, if unconscious with his neck and spine broken. "I can look after this one, Hinata-san, you go reinforce Shikamaru-san and Naruto-sama."

* * *

Tayuya stood on the tree branch, her blood covering her right hand as she pushed herself into the second stage of her mark's power. Seeing the two shinobi chasing them she slapped her palm against the branch, summoning the abominable monstrosities that were effectively her puppets as she lifted her flute to blow a shrill and discordant tune. When _both _ninja dropped, covering their ears in obvious signs of pain as the second one dispersed in a cloud of smoke, she paused... and the shadows flickered as Shikamaru slammed the butt of a kunai against her skull. Nodding to Naruto as he withdrew reels of ninja-wire from his pouch, he began to secure the Oto kunoichi.

* * *

Tsunade looked over her reinforcing team. "You are to reinforce and support the retrieval team. Now get going!" Ino, Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru took off running, even as Shizune delivered the news of Chouji's return with an injured Otome.

* * *

Naruto struggled to his feet as the chase finally ran out of forest. Only a few miles North lay the Valley of the End, but Naruto wasn't about to let it get that far. He threw everything he had into catching the burdened Oto elite. Kimimaro seemed to realise this, and set down the tub, not noticing that the seals holding it contained had begun to smoke slightly.

"Enough," he said in his cold voice. "My master demands that I return with this body for him, and I'll not let some pitiful shinobi child stop me from carrying out his wishes." The pale man reached up to his shoulders as two bones extended through the flesh, and pulled loose the bone swords from his own body, assuming a stance that spoke of kenjutsu expertise, even as Naruto raised a kunai in each hand, and charged.

The initial clash was telling, with Naruto leaping back from the blades his foe wielded, with deep gouges in the metal of his kunai, and deep cuts to his forearms that were already beginning to heal. "_Well, that answers the question of whether it's the same guy or not,_" he thought, and hurled both kunai at the onrushing enemy, who deflected them both with the sword in his left hand. He paused a moment to stare at the boy in front of him.

"That was futile," he remarked. "All you have managed is to throw away your only weapons. They would not have saved you, but they might have prolonged this. And now you face my blades."

Naruto shrugged as his opponent closed the distance, slicing the next kunai, Naruto's last, in half. "How do you do that?" the Konoha ninja asked. "Your swords are bone, and most bone isn't that strong."

"My kekkei genkai is the Dead Bone Pulse, boy," Kimimaro sneered. "It allows me to shape and extract my bones for this purpose, and there is no way for you to break them. The chakra that runs through me makes the bones as strong as tempered steel, making each bone the equivalent of a katana. You are doomed... give up now and it shall be quick." He closed with a few spinning steps, almost dancing, and lashed out faster than Naruto could move, the sword in his right hand sweeping towards Naruto's neck faster than the young shinobi could react...

* * *

Kura glanced up as the back-up team reached him, drawn by the scent. "Do you think we can stabilise this guy," he pointed at his unmoving prisoner, bound to a makeshift back-board with his own silk. "He might know a few things."

Ino nodded. "Sakura, you and Kiba get going, I can handle this part." Turning to the prisoner, she smiled, an almost evil, almost certainly vicious, smirk. "We don't want to lose any information he has before we get him back to Konoha if he dies, after all."

She raised her hands. "Yamanaka Clan Jutsu: Mind Walking."

* * *

Hinata reached the edge of the forest, and immediately saw Naruto, even as the enemy shinobi swept his sword in the arc that was intended to decapitate her husband, and her heart skipped a few beats. If that man killed her Naru-kun, he would not survive long enough to do anything else, even should it kill her to do so. The sharp snap of bone called her attention back to the fight, rather than her vengeful thoughts. The broken piece of bone blade that spun away and dug, point-down, into the open field drew her focus, but she saw the entire scene clearly.

Kimimaro was surprised at the bonemetal blade that had erupted from Naruto's shoulder to intercept his sword, snapping it clean at the point of impact. That shouldn't have happened... He didn't want to resort to the curse-mark either. It would shorten his life too much, he would never survive it, and there was no-one left to take the Uchiha boy to Orochimaru should he fall... He discarded the broken sword and returned the other as he leaped backwards, even as Naruto formed a blade on his other shoulder, as well as from each elbow and his kneecaps, with an armoured bonemetal mask forming about his brow and cheekbones, and plating spread across his forehead. _Then_ the boy unsheathed his claws...

"What kind of monster are you?" the Oto elite asked, a touch of fear rising in his voice.

Naruto's answer was not comforting. "The kind your 'master' created trying to cure you, before discarding me to die as useless, never realising what he'd done. I should have died. I didn't. Instead, I took that which was killing me, everything that had been done to me, and I refused to die. My bloodline kept me alive, and reached out for what it could use to help me survive, and remade me. And now, I choose _not_ to be the monster your master proved himself to be, the one he would have made me, and did make you. If he's waiting for Sasuke, then he can wait until the stars burn down to ash."

Kimimaro reached to the back of his neck, and with a terrible ratcheting sound, a grisly wrenching noise that seemed designed to inspire nausea, _pulled out his own backbone_. Naruto grinned. "I guess I can't call you spineless at any rate. But are you sure that throwing away all those bones you keep pulling out is good for you?"

Even as he spoke, the younger shinobi was pushing wind and lightning chakra into the bonemetal, and as his foe lashed out with the backbone like a whip, he jumped over it, as hie shoulderblades grew the edged spines and his back sprouted its spikes. Kimimaro shifted direction and his spinal whip turned and struck upwards at the airborne blond. Naruto drove an elbow blade through the bony lash, severing the top third of it, which scattered away in fragments. The rest of the whip, however, struck into his side, opening a long gash that bled freely. As he hissed, and the wound began to close, Naruto could feel some malaise, some illness, deep within the bone of the lash, trying to latch onto his own skeleton... but his Sokai Katsuryoku snuffed it out in seconds, particularly quickly as it was by no means his first exposure. He punched forwards with his claws, and Kimimaro attempted to catch at them with his ribcage only for the Arashi no Tsume to cut through the bones as easily as they had done the tempered steel of a sword, and Naruto dragged the claws out the side of the Oto nin's torso, scattering pieces of bone as he went.

His back to the tub, Kimimaro realised he had no choice. He had to activate his curse-mark and pray it lasted long enough for him to carry out his mission, or he'd die with that mission unfulfilled.

* * *

As Sakura and Kiba, led by Akamaru, caught up with Hinata who stood at the edge of the field as if it were the hardest thing she'd ever done, the smouldering seals on the tub could no longer hold, and the wooden vessel exploded, with several large chunks of splintered wood piercing Kimimaro, whose stunned and impaled form inadvertently shielded Naruto, even as the Oto nin died, his internal organs ruptured and failing. As he fell, Naruto noted a long splinter as thick around as his arm sticking out the back of his skull, at an angle that slipped past his skull and into his brain.

But no-one was paying more than passing attention to that. In the small crater left by the tub's explosion, stood what could only be Sasuke... but a Sasuke drowning in the unfiltered and concentrated black chakra of the curse-mark, pouring off him in waves, killing the nearby grass as he opened his pure black eyes and screamed, a terrible sound of pain and rage...


	23. Seal 23: Remove

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Normal people scare me... but I scare them more...

**Twenty-third Seal: Remove.**

There was nothing but pain and anger in his existence. There hadn't been for a long time, longer than any would have believed possible. A constant shifting agony that burned away at the mind, tearing apart all positive thought... His team-mates became tools rather than friends, friends became potential enemies, anyone who had something more than he became a _real_ enemy, for taking what should have been his, and although he fought the change in his feelings, in his very self, he was losing. From desperation, he opened the Sharingan... and everything got worse.

From the moment the paper bearing the seal-breaker had made contact with the triple seal around the curse-mark, it had been syphoning his chakra to fuel the destruction of those three seals, of any seal in fact, other than the ones Orochimaru had placed. So it was that Sasuke relived the memories of the night his brother had killed all his own clan... and a different perspective arose. A memory. Itachi was not as automatically trusted by his family and clan as everyone outside the Uchiha may have believed... Sasuke had been. The killing blows that had been delivered had been from someone they'd trusted, or the killer would not have gotten close. The Uchiha had been conspiring against the Hokage, to reclaim their rightful power and place as they saw it, and someone destroyed them in a single night.

The rawest, most burningly agonising realisation hit Sasuke at this point... Itachi had _not_ been in the Uchiha compound that night... he'd not set so much as a finger in the district that night in fact... but he'd still killed all of the Uchiha somehow, which meant he'd had to get someone else to do it for him... That person whoever they were, had been little more than his tool, his weapon against his clan, and the reason he'd survived was not because his brother had been unable to kill him, but because of this very moment... It hadn't been _Itachi_ who'd been slaughtering his clan, it had been Sasuke, his brother's puppet and stand-in... Of course he wouldn't have an effective weapon destroy itself.

* * *

Orochimaru had developed the curse-marks as a means to accomplish two goals. The first was to increase the power of the bearer, and all that power had to come from somewhere, so the mark converted potential life-span into chakra, a prohibitively effective technique that vastly raised the bearer's abilities, potentially even to jinchuuriki levels, but to do so it ate away at their life at increasingly exorbitant cost. The imbalance then had a corrosive effect on the bearer's judgement and sanity, their sense of right and wrong. Darker deeds became simply a tiny price to pay as the mark progressed. The power of the Uchiha Sharingan had a similar effect if used too powerfully or for too long. The second goal was to lower the resistance and inhibitions of the mind bearing it, to make it easier for Orochimaru to take that body should he need to... or should the whim strike him. Together, these traits merged within the boy's body, tapping into all the rage and anguish, everything negative that Sasuke was only just beginning to overcome, and overwhelmed his fragile psyche... It was all he could do to hold onto a single memory, a single thought, a single ray of hope... Deep within all the fury and pain was a tiny core, an image of a girl with pink hair...

* * *

As Kimimaro collapsed, dead as a doornail with the splintered chunks of the tub the Oto elite had their prisoner in, all the rage and anger of the boy, all the pain and anguish began to pour off him, burning the life from the grass around him to fuel the black chakra flames that roiled and danced about his form. His eyes, pure black, swept over the area around him as he turned, and seeing someone who had a power that should have been his... attacked.

Naruto barely avoided the attack, a stream of black lightning that tore up the ground where he'd been standing, and a stray ribbon of power brushed against his arm, tearing it open in a gout of gore as he was flung end-over-end towards the tree-line. He glanced at the injury to assess the damage, noting idly that the wound did not seem to be closing... as if the chakra that would have gone to healing the injury were burned out or blocked... "_That can't be a good sign..._" he thought as the Dark Sasuke charged, and closed the distance as Naruto kicked back to his feet. As Hinata appeared and lashed out with Gentle Fist strikes, which had no effect, and Gentle Storm, with the same result, the Dark Sasuke reached out for Naruto...

As her husband was attacked, Hinata had raced in to intercept Sasuke, and the two shinobi she'd left to watch took a second to glance at each other, as Akamaru whimpered and cowered deeper into Kiba's jacket.

"Akamaru's in no shape to help them, Sakura, and I'm not good enough to beat Sasuke when he's holding back," the Inuzuka said to his team-mate. "We'll go for more help, you back up those two and try to stop him, or at least keep him in place."

As Kiba dashed back along their trail, hoping he'd find someone who could help, Sakura raced towards the fight. The black flames scared her, even more so when she realised even _Naruto _wasn't healing as fast as he usually did... normally you could see the injuries healing before your eyes, and although the blond's wounds were closing, it seemed a long and drawn out process compared to his usual gone-before-he-realised-he'd-been-hurt pace. Despite the protection of the chakra used in her fighting style, Hinata's palms had been a little scorched by the black flames surrounding Sasuke... Flames that had been devouring her chakra as fuel until she deliberately shut off the flow of it for a few moments.

Naruto hammered into Sasuke from the side, bonemetal plating his striking surfaces... knuckles, knees and elbows... having drawn in his claws in order to pummel some sense into his fellow shinobi. The black flames hurt, and tried to consume the blue energy of his chakra, it was getting painful to maintain conflict as the two traded blows, and Hinata fell back a little breathing hard, as Sakura leaped past her and lashed her hand into the opening created when Naruto landed a knee strike to intercept Sasuke's flame covered fist, catching the attack with her hand and stopping the attack cold long enough for the blond shinobi to force the Uchiha back. The sting and burning sensation in her palm, however, were _not_ due to her hand catching fire...

As Sakura stared for a moment at her unmarked palm, she began to think, both faster and harder than she ever had before. She had not been the top-graded kunoichi because of her actual shinobi skills, but because her academics had been nearly off the charts. Naruto's attacks were striking the black chakra and being absorbed... like the kick he performed now, with his bonemetal plated heel... it should have broken Sasuke's jaw, and driven the Sharingan user's momentum sideways across a fair distance, but Sasuke barely noticed it... and Naruto was getting burned as he did. Hinata had similar problems, and the two of them were acting like partners should in every single assault they launched. None of it was working... and Sakura came to the realisation that they couldn't stop Sasuke... these black chakra flames weren't going to let them hit effectively...

* * *

Ignoring the hiss of burning flesh, and the smoky smell that lay siege to her senses, instead wondering how Naruto, with his far more sensitive senses, was managing to keep going, Hinata got a grip on Sasuke's left arm. It was his weak arm, but she found herself hard pressed, and wished that ninja-wire would have helped... or even that she had some with her. The sudden jerk as Sasuke stopped in his tracks startled her. Naruto had apparently had a similar train of thought as he'd pulled off a virtual mirror image manoeuvre, and he _did_ have ninja-wire, and he spooled it about the Uchiha's wrists, where it promptly began to heat up even as he anchored it in kunai that he hurled to the trees, the wire proceeding slowly up the spectrum through reds of brighter hues, approaching yellow quickly as Sasuke, who had yet to make a coherent sound other than grunts and roars, struggled and strained against his bonds.

It surprised the both of them when Sakura simply walked up to Sasuke and wrapped her arms around him, unharmed by the black fires flaring from his flesh, planting a solid and very real kiss on the lips of her crush, shocking him into immobility. Pulling back with a murmured "I'm sorry", she looked into his eyes, and saw the pain and agony, the unequalled morass of despair and fury that it was impossible to bear without breaking. She saw _his_ eyes, the red tomoe-marked sharingan eyes, as he croaked out in a shattered voice.

"Forgive... you... gotta be stopped, before... I kill someone..." he swallowed with difficulty, fighting back the impossible tide of every negative thing in his life, holding it all at bay with the one shining moment, one that was deteriorating now that the black flames of the curse-mark 'knew' what to destroy. "Thank you, Sakura..." Then his eyes went totally black once more as Sakura raised her hand, sheathed in chakra, and then, with tears pouring down her face so hard that she could not see anything, shattered her own heart by driving her fist through his...

* * *

The detonation of chakra did not go unnoticed, and the back-up teams from Konoha that had been mustered and dispatched as soon as they became available raced through the trees. It was Kakashi who found them first, although he was soon joined by others, Gai, then Anko, then more. Sasuke's body had been badly damaged by the black flames, and was barely recognisable.

Sakura was unresponsive. Her right arm was gone, burned away to ash in an instant, all the way to her shoulder. Her eyes didn't focus right, and the initial diagnosis (by Shizune, leading the first medic-nin team to arrive) was of shock-induced catatonia. In comparison, Hinata and Naruto got off extremely lightly, although they were rendered unconscious, with 'mere' burns... burns that were slowly mending as the two were entangled, Hinata in her husband's arms as the jinchuuriki had apparently shielded her. The worrisome thing about _that_ was the threads of youki that danced between the two, repairing the injuries that were somehow devoid of the regular blue chakra that all living things contained...

This was a very strange, and very dangerous situation, and they had to get everyone back to Konoha, as soon as possible...

* * *

Orochimaru was gritting his teeth, only barely containing his anger as he watched the vast number of Konoha shinobi going over the ground where the fight had taken place. Fed up with waiting (his impatience was a factor in his many failed experiments, too, not that he'd admit to any form of imperfection), the renegade sannin had slipped through the Valley of the End and located the site of the battle... but he found it far too late. The shinobi had already taken away the bodies and survivors from the fight that Orochimaru could see signs of still scored into the landscape around them. He again restrained his destructive impulse... it wasn't worth it to lash out with no real reward here, risking capture if any of these shinobi were stronger than they looked... and began to slip away. He needed more information.

* * *

None of the three survivors of the battle against Sasuke were waking up, Tsunade noted. Looking over the charts and reports she saw that Sakura's problem was not physical in nature, despite the injury that had taken her arm. Even now Yamanaka Inoichi was attempting to gently sift through the girl's scattered memories. His report of the fight was stark, and as regards the pink-haired girl's mind...

"She's hiding, Tsunade-sama," the Yamanaka head explained. "It wasn't so much the shock of her arm being destroyed, as it was her realisation that Sasuke was already too far broken and had to be... stopped... and that as powerful and strong as Naruto and Hinata had become, they weren't able to do it, while she was... and had to." He sighed, knowing the minefield he was about to walk into. "I'd imagine that you had a similar episode after... Dan."

Tsunade's glare snapped up and locked onto the mind-walker's face. "That's none..." She paused a moment, then collapsed back into a chair as she looked at the young kunoichi. "No," she sighed. "You're right. What repercussions can you see from this?"

"_If_ she recovers from the emotional trauma of having to kill her own team-mate, the boy she may well have loved, and who apparently thought enough of her that she was the only one he'd ever let in, you mean?" The blond jounin shrugged. "All she really has left is being a shinobi. Her father's working on the police force here, and her mother's on the council representing the clanless shinobi, but neither one will ever fully understand what she's going through. I'd suggest keeping her as Kakashi's genin... he'll understand what she's going through, like no-one else ever will... and probably assigning them to some minor ambassadorial duties for a while. If Danzou managed council duties with one arm, she should manage at least assistant's duties. If there were some sort of prosthetic for her, that would probably help her out, too. I'd not try to disguise it though. If she were to associate it with her old arm, she may well do herself an injury." He shook his head. "That's all 'if', mind you. As for when... I have no idea. I don't even know if she'll remember it."

The Hokage nodded, and she put on the Hat (the only one spoken of thus in the village... anyone could have 'a' hat, the Hokage wore 'the' Hat) and left the room. Three doors down she came to another room. "Jiraiya, Shizune," she spoke to the two experts who watched over the room's two occupants... in the one bed. "A report and some tea, please?"

As her former apprentice made the tea, Jiraiya began. "It's youki, alright, the pure stuff, too. The thing is, his seal is locked down tight. The way it's designed, this stuff isn't, can't be, the fox's chakra... but it has to be, there's no other explanation. It seems to be acting in some unique way, and I have no idea how. It's almost as if Naruto himself was guiding this energy in whatever it's doing, but he's unconscious, so that can't be it."

Shizune handed over the teacup, which had a single stalk floating upright in it. As Tsunade blinked at the omen, the medic-nin carried on from where Jiraiya had left off. "Their wounds are healing slowly, and being specifically targeted by the youki to be rebuilt, it's the only way to explain it, but there may be side effects we can't predict. Whatever those black flames were, they would consume the chakra within a living thing to fuel themselves, but in the case of Uchiha Sasuke, and I suspect anyone in his situation, it seems to burn through their potential chakra first... when I examined the body, all the potential lifespan was burned out by the black chakra. That gave Jiraiya-sama some ideas about the function of the seal, which may allow us to remove the one on Mitarashi Anko." Turning back to the beds she pointed to their 'burns', which were, even as they watched, visibly recovering. "Our techniques and medical jutsu were useless, they need a chakra system to work with... the black chakra burns out that system. What's happening here... it looks like their systems are being rebuilt by youki, and there's something else, something we just can't understand." Shaking her head, she gestured for the Toad Sage to take up the reins of the conversation.

Since Jiraiya seemed reluctant, Tsunade decided to prod for information. "Does this have to do with why they're in the same bed? Nightmares again?" She could handle nightmares, she thought, but the spy-master was shaking his head.

"I wish it was nightmares, but the truth is, if Hinata is taken from the gaki's arms, she starts to crash. Her vitals drop, and she starts to die. It looks like toxic chakra shock, but faster..."

As Tsunade stared, Shizune finished her report. "It's almost like she's become dependent on the youki to live," she said, "but unlike Naruto and his passenger, she doesn't generate youki herself. We, and I use that term collectively about all the medics and doctors here except maybe you, have no idea where to even start to deal with this."

* * *

Otome sat in the wheelchair as Chouji and Ino guided her down the corridors. The main Uzumaki bloodline was still present in the Hyaku Hoseki line, but the 'something extra' they had was settled into the Skin of Stone. The more rapid healing from the Katsuryoku (only Naruto had the 'super-charged' version, the Sokai Katsuryoku) meant that she was only going to be off this leg for a couple of weeks, although in an emergency she could be healed quicker... but her state at the time of injury had exacerbated the break, and the doctors recommended she allow it to heal naturally. To say that she was not best pleased at this turn of events was understating the case.

Naruto and Hinata were still in this... sleep. It had been three days and everyone else was debriefed, and brought up to date on the situation. While the mission had technically failed, the target they were sent to rescue dying in the course of the mission, it was emphasised that this was no-one's fault... except the man who'd placed that curse-mark in the first place. The analysis of the mission and the after-action reports, as well as mental health assessments for all involved, were all dealt with swiftly, and everyone besides the Uzumakis and Sakura had been sent home. Kiba was temporarily placed on Team 10 for missions, but Shinshi-sensei had no problems with that... Kiba had taken one look at the man's smirk and gulped.

Ishiguma was waiting outside the hospital as his daughter and her friends emerged. As they reached him, he spoke. "I heard about a strange new manoeuvre," he said, causing both his daughter and the young Akimichi to stiffen. "This 'Uzumaki Combination' may be a good idea, but obviously we will need more than one such option to make it a true path. And we will have to work on the theories behind it to eliminate such a cost as it currently has." His gesture took in her leg, plastered from hip to toes. "But this 'Akimichi Catapult'... most effective, and impressive. I am proud."

Chouji and Ino seemed about to verbally protest the mild way this was said, when Otome placed a hand on the hand of each nearest her. "This is my father," she explained as they hesitated. "This is his equivalent of Naruto-sama's wildest cheers and exhortations, with a parade down the centre of the village for good measure." Bowing as best she could in her current condition, she replied to her father. "I thank you for your attention, Otou-sensei. You honour me."

Ishiguma wasn't a man for big emotional displays, so the hug both surprised and confused her. "No, beloved daughter, you honour me," he replied. "My greatest desire, is that one day, not too far off I think, I might be proud to be known as _your_ father..."

* * *

This was a first, even for Kurama. Not once in his thousand years of existence (although he grudgingly admitted to himself that in this case, he was uncertain of the exact span of his years, so a thousand years simply meant a very long time) had one of his hosts managed to bring someone _else_ into their mind-scape... while they were _both_ unconscious. When they'd appeared, he could see the damage they'd both taken, and it was terrible. The girl, his host's mate, for Naruto's scent was all over her in such a way that there was no other possible interpretation, was badly hurt, almost as though something had seared away the very pathways of her chakra network. From what he could tell, the same was happening to Naruto, and even as he watched, he'd seen the damage slowly, oh so slowly, spreading... in both of them.

Sighing, the fox looked at the boy, the young man he corrected himself, to whom he'd actually given his name. Under the direction of the two chakra presences, as long as they'd lasted, the power of the Kyuubi no Yoko had been wielded for a purpose other than destruction. It had felt odd, very odd, but... somehow it had been far more satisfying to build the boy up than the many deaths and vast swaths of destruction the biju had caused over his long, long life. He sighed again as he looked at the damage. He could repair the boy, and make him immune, and indeed, he'd been doing so. He'd also done the same things to the girl... Hinata...

He'd even managed to iron out the discrepancy between his chakra and her own, but there was something else wrong, something he'd not foreseen. Once he'd reached a certain point as he rebuilt her system, that very system became dependant on the very youki repairing it. If she was to live, he would have to give her some way to produce her own youki, whether by sealing another biju or lesser demon into her, which the gaki would never forgive him for, or by changing them both, making them into either full- or half-blooded demons. It was tempting to push it far enough to make them demons, a sort of celestial get-out-of-jail-free card as full demons could not contain other full demons without one devouring the other. But that would leave him weak and vulnerable to the one who'd manipulated him into attacking Konoha... twice!... and that was _not_ an acceptable outcome. So he brought them closer, dragging them next to the bars of his cage as he began to shift what the youki was doing. If he wasn't careful, they'd wind up full kitsune, and _that_ would definitely give the game away.

The first time he'd done this had taken enough youki to put him to sleep for three years... this would take significantly more...

Unconscious in the private room, where Shizune slumbered nearby, ready to act if they woke, Naruto's hand moved, and the youki that trailed behind it began to paint a seal on Hinata's belly...

* * *

Shino arrived at the hospital to visit his team-mates, Kurenai-sensei and Anko with him, where Tsunade met them at the doors. The council had decided that, on reflection, the purple-haired special jonin was _never, not ever,_ permitted to teach or lecture at the Academy again. Since this had been part of what the woman had been aiming to accomplish, she was happy. The rest was to further the 'Legend of Anko', which seemed devoted more to terrifying small children (and not-so-small; there were more than fifty full-grown men and women who had nightmares about the kunoichi and her snakes) than about any actual deeds.

One of the children, an obnoxious civilian child, apple of his father's eye, obviously, had spat when Anko told him to collect the group's water. "I don't have to listen to my own mother," he'd said, "so why should I listen to you?"

Anko's sadistic smirk had nearly broken the brat on its own, but her follow-up speech finished it. "Because your parents aren't here to stop me putting snakes in your bed."

The boy had been a proper angel for the rest of the trip. By the time they'd returned, the whole rescue mission had been over with for the past few days, and they'd decided to all come in at the same time... actually, Anko was likely only here because Tsunade had ordered her down here to talk with Jiraiya, something about new information on the effects of the curse-mark, and a possible method of removing it... The jonin had been embarrassingly enthusiastic. "If he can get this off me," she'd announced, "I'd have his baby!" Then she'd realised exactly what she'd said, and Death Threats were issued to all in the room. A laughing Tsunade had nodded, calling it an S-rank secret, to make her feel better.

They knocked on the door, more to be polite than in hopes of their friends being awake, and heard Shizune as she startled. The door then opened and the four of them entered, only to freeze at the sight before them.

By and large, the couple in the bed were the same as they'd always been, but Shino's kikaichu were telling him something was different. The young Aburame had figured that much out the second he saw the whisker-marks on Hinata's cheeks, perfectly matching those on her husband's, the black, hard nails, so much like animal's claws, and the pointed, fox-like ears they both had in place of the ones they'd had last night.

Tsunade broke the silence. "This... could be quite a problem..."


	24. Seal 24: Vitalise

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Join the club, we've got jackets... those I-love-me jackets that do up in the back...

**Twenty-fourth Seal: Vitalise.**

Hinata stretched a little as she woke, a familiar warmth against her... She opened her eyes and saw the Hokage standing there, with Kurenai, Shizune and Shino, staring at her. Wondering what was going on she reached up with her hand to rub her eyes free of sleep and stopped. The difference between her fingernails during the fight with Sasuke and now was... significant. Solid black, more firmly anchored, and more rounded than flat, they resembled nothing more than claws, such as you'd find on a dog or a wolf... or a fox. Glancing down at Naruto's hand where it rested on her belly, she saw the same thing, a fact that laid her ears back...

Reaching up she felt at the pointed, red-furred ears on each side of her head as she twisted around to look at Naruto's face. This in turn woke her husband who began to rub at his still shut eyes, his ears (identical to hers, allowing for the size differences between them) drooping a little, displaying the black tips she was now certain adorned her own ears as well. It was the opening of his eyes that made her gasp, just a little.

The colour of the blond jinchuuriki's eyes was unchanged, but their shape... that had definitely changed. The cat-like slit pupil of a fox's eyes was there, plain to see, and his eyes met hers and she caught a glimpse of her own eyes... Save for only the colour, a rich amethyst shade, her eyes were the same. In a moment of panic, without thinking of their company, Hinata thrust her left hand into the waistband on Naruto's shorts, sighing in relief when she failed to find a fox-tail, and squeezing her husband close... until Kurenai cleared her throat, reminding the young shinobi couple that they weren't alone, bringing a fierce blush to _both_ of their faces.

* * *

Ino stepped through the doors, returning to Sakura's room after helping her team-mate Otome leave the hospital. The pink-haired girl was still her friend, despite the rivalry they'd had over Sasuke, and Ino had a vast degree of sympathy for Sakura, even if their mutual crush _had_ started to notice his team-mate a little more. The mental trauma of seeing him die would have been truly awful... although Ino had thought Sakura was a little stronger than this. What had happened to him that it did this to her?

The blonde carefully fed her catatonic friend, who dutifully and automatically ate what was placed in her mouth. Ino had thought the cesspool in Kidomaru's mind was bad enough, but even as she dragged the memories of the six-armed man from his mind, she'd been insulated to a large degree by the training her father had given her, and Sakura had no such release valve. Ino wished she could do something for Sakura other than wait, but for now, that's all she could do.

Still, the dull, almost lifeless gaze of the pink-haired kunoichi was worrying her blonde friend, and Ino was not the type to sit still.

* * *

The panic that the Uzumaki couple felt at finding their new changes was fleeting, and Naruto, for one, thought the whisker-marks on Hinata's face to be adorable... distractingly so, in fact. The various medical procedures to determine what was happening were apparently insufficient, as all Tsunade and Shizune could detect was that the two of them were in fine form and ready to fight... but their transformation, as minor as it seemed, was totally unexpected. Hinata was found to have a similar increase to her senses and healing rate to Naruto's, as if someone had managed to transplant his bloodline limit into her... almost a limit breaker, if you would have it so. A moment's experimentation revealed her to still have the Byakugan, but the change to her eyes was reflected here by the entire eye becoming that vivid amethyst purple.

"It looks like both of you have already made a full recovery, which was worrying me," Tsunade told them. "Large sections of the chakra network in Hinata's hand and arms and legs, and the same for you Naruto, had been... burned away, is the best way I can describe it. Because the chakra coils were destroyed, the chakra flow wasn't getting where it had to go, so there was no healing, either naturally or through jutsu, that we could assist with. Worse, it was slowly eating away at you spreading the damage. The only thing that stopped it was the youki of the Kyuubi... and we have no idea how he managed to do any of this. He would have to have rebuilt a _lot_ of your chakra networks from scratch. We could actually see that happening at the time." She sipped at the cup of tea Shizune had supplied.

Jiraiya took the chance to speak. "What worried us then was the way the two of you seemed to need the youki to survive. Since Naruto has the fox in his seal, we weren't as concerned for him, but as far as we knew, Hinata had no such resource to draw upon." He looked them up and down. "But what's happened is something I never would have expected in longer than the Kyuubi no Yoko has existed..." He met the curious gazes squarely. "It seems, in order to give you two the ability to survive the reconstruction of your chakra networks, the Kyuubi has pretty much given you the ability to generate your own youki... although exactly what you can do with it is completely unknown. But the side-effects... Your chakra reserves have increased, both of you, and in general your chakra is more potent. Physically, you'll be a bit stronger and faster, tougher too, but you'll have to get used to it. There's a serious downside to it all, though. The physical changes are obvious if you're looking at them, and while you're more powerful, there's a _lot_ of seals in certain places that the two of you simply can't go any more... shrines and temples, especially."

"So you're saying we aren't human any longer?" Naruto asked, a catch in his voice. Hinata wrapped her arms around him as they waited for Tsunade's verdict.

"Pfft. Of course you're still human," the Hokage said. "If anything, you're more than human, but the human part is there, because we can still see Naruto and Hinata. The ears and eyes are going to take some getting used to though..."

"It could be worse," Naruto remarked. "We could have woken up with tails..."

* * *

She opened her eyes to a full-colour view, unlike the dull grey that had coated the world for so long. Looking down, she saw the long blonde ponytail of Ino, and the dish of pudding that the other girl had fed her, apparently, as Ino had no signs of eating it herself on her. She went to reach out to shake her friend's shoulder, and froze.

"_Where did my arm go?_" she thought frantically, almost panicked by the loss. The shoulder was sensitive and tender, but the ghostly sensation that her real arm should be there, her hand flexing in front of her, was almost agonising. A memory flickered, of a flare of black fire that turned white as she pulled her hand back from... Her mind refused to go any further, and there was a foggy blur in front of whatever had happened. Gritting her teeth, she poked and prodded at her memory, managing to lift the edges of the fog and peer underneath...

Her scream of pain and despair woke Ino, who was up instantly and holding her best friend close as she cried, huge wracking sobs. From her mother's explanations as a therapist, this was a good sign, especially as the pink-haired girl was now able to focus, wrapping her only arm around her friend as she cried herself out. "Sorry, Ino," Sakura mumbled, right on the edge of hearing. "I don't deserve a friend like you... or Kiba, or even Naruto... it was all me..."

"Sakura, it's alright," the blonde said, puzzled by her friend's words, but determined to be supportive. "All the enemy ninja are dead or captured, so there'll be justice for whoever killed Sasuke, you wait and see..." As Sakura stiffened at her words, Ino wondered why, pulling back to see the fear-stricken look on the other girl's face.

Sakura had frozen up. Ino didn't _know_. She didn't even suspect it was a possibility. The one-armed girl drew in a sob. "I... I can't say it, Ino," she mumbled her voice a little croaky from disuse. "You... you better step inside and see it for yourself." She pointed at her forehead, then remembered her missing right hand and pointed again with her left, wondering if she'd ever get used to that, as Ino performed the hand-seals to mind-walk...

* * *

Naruto's henge jutsu proved to be enough to conceal their fox-like features. Even Hinata's Byakugan couldn't see through the transformation... which was a major clue right there. A little investigation showed the transformation to be an actual physical (if only cosmetic) change. Hinata's own change was the same, too, as if their new bodies were playing along with the appearance they wanted to project.

"Well, that's one new talent you've discovered," Jiraiya said as he walked them home. There were angry glares here and there directed at Naruto as they passed, and although Jiraiya's glare was enough to make the handful of hostile civilians back down, Naruto was forced to wonder what was going on. Jiraiya refused to explain until they were under the Uzumaki roof.

They stopped as they passed Ichiraku's and Naruto glanced to Hinata, who rolled her eyes then nodded. As they sat to order, Ayame and Teuchi seemed to brighten up at the sight of their favourite customer... and his bulging wallet.

* * *

Ino pulled back from her friend's memories, shocked, horrified and furious about what Sakura had done. She'd known that Sasuke was dead, there was no-one who didn't in Konoha, but like many people had assumed it to be the hand of Naruto that had done the deed. Learning that it had been Sakura had brought those three emotions to the fore... but her father had always said for her to look twice at everything. Shock and horror were understandable, she supposed, as finding that Sakura was the only one who could do the deed was a terrible fact... Ino doubted she could have brought herself to do it. The anger was _not_, somewhat surprisingly, directed at Sakura, as she would have thought, but at the universe in general, for forcing the pink-haired girl's first kill to be the one person she would have died to protect, her first love... it was so unfair, and the tears that sprang to the blonde's eyes as she hugged her friend to her were as much for Sakura as for Sasuke.

Sakura looked on the loss of her arm as a fair price to pay, since she doubted she'd ever be able to look at the hand that had killed Sasuke without feeling the urge to have it not be part of her, to remove it. Even if it meant the end of her career as a shinobi, not something she looked forward to, it showed everyone that she was willing to sacrifice herself for the village... As she finally drifted into a true and healthy slumber, held close by her best friend, who mourned with her, she idly wondered who would be telling her it was all over...

It was here that Tsunade found the pair, Ino cradling her friend gently as the Hokage entered. On seeing the sleeping Sakura, the old woman smiled. Nodding to Ino as Kakashi and Kiba joined them, Tsunade waited as the young kunoichi woke her friend. The dejected Sakura looked up at the Hokage and wilted. At least it showed that they valued her loss...

"It seems obvious to me," the Godaime Hokage said, "that Team Seven has struck a major problem. You are down one member, and we'll have to take care of that soon, and another has suffered both physical and emotional injuries that will take time to deal with. I have two options I can pursue here. The first, and frankly least palatable, is that I disband Team Seven..." Sakura's heart sank; she'd been right, she knew it... "but that would be spitting on the sacrifices that the members of that team have made. So I am pursuing the second option. As of now, the two surviving members of Team Seven are given field promotion to chunin on my authority as the one under the Hat."

Sakura's gaze snapped up and locked onto Tsunade's face as she spoke, a wild, unbelievable hope coursing through her, as the Hokage continued. "Further, I am ordering jonin Hatake Kakashi and the two chunin of his team, together with chunin Nara Shikamaru to undertake the first diplomatic inspections of Sunagakure no Sato to maintain their treaty with us. While there, they are to seek out means, resources and training for chunin Haruno Sakura such that would restore her to full duties as a kunoichi of Konoha. I recommend speaking with Suna's puppet-master corps, as Sakura's incredible chakra control, and the phantom feelings of her missing arm, may permit a form of prosthetic to work. I believe it's worth looking into." The others all filed out, and Ino waved to her friend as she left, promising to return the next day. Tsunade was the last in the line, and paused as Sakura spoke, soft and hesitant.

"Tsu... no, Hokage-sama, why so much for just one kunoichi?" she asked, uncertainty and self-doubt plaguing her. The Hokage smiled as she looked over her shoulder.

"Because when it comes down to it, the big picture that everyone keeps telling me to look at... it's made up of lots of little ones. People keep forgetting that."

* * *

The addition of the crimson youki to Naruto and Hinata's systems created a few discrepancies. For one, the violet chakra that resulted was more potent than the blue chakra of the average shinobi. It was more... concentrated, if that was the word, and the couple needed to refine their chakra control again, to deal with the changes. Luckily their elemental affinities remained the same, but they had to start from scratch, re-learning most of their jutsu all over again, mastering again the skills they once wielded so easily... was it really only a week or so gone?

Hinata found that she _could _perform a Rasengan... but only once... The resources required for it to be effective pretty close to drained her chakra reserves, even if they were growing. Maybe in five or ten years she could master it, but until then she decided she would rather perfect the Gentle Storm. Even there she had a whole slew of new problems, as the youki in her chakra caused the output of her strikes to fluctuate, as the sheer number of training posts she reduced to splinters could attest.

Naruto's problems were similar in nature, if not in scope. As the jinchuuriki and host of the Kyuubi, he was scrutinised closely by Jiraiya, inspecting the seal on his belly especially, finding that Naruto's own youki was gently picking away at the seal. All he could do was repair the seal, a patch job he was unhappy about. Given that the Kyuubi was dormant for some reason the Toad Sage could not even guess at, he was unsure exactly how long the seal would hold. "Naruto, be careful," he warned the young man. "I believe it will hold for the next ten years, and if I can manage to patch it often enough, I can _maybe_ stretch that out by an extra year or three, but someday, it's going to fail. When that happens, the fox will be free... the original design of the seal bound your lives together, but with your changes... I just don't know. The only place that might have the information I need... is the Great Library of Uzushiogakure in Uzu no Kuni. It probably won't be there now, but I can start to track it down. Much as I might want to take you along, I can't take you both as you are. You just don't have the control you need. But I'll move as fast as I can to get the books I need and get back here. I'll see you when I return."

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in the park, watching as the Academy students began debating over the lecture he'd just given on the management of the village. The things a child could see clearly that adults overlooked sometimes overwhelmed him. Even as his grandson and his friends started asking about the sanctity of the clans' autonomy, and the limits that were placed upon it, others in the class discussed how and why new clans formed and old ones were lost or restored. The importance of bloodlines and kekkei genkai was also raised and talked to death. Clearing his throat, the Professor, as the former Hokage was still known, reclaimed the eager attention of the future shinobi.

"There is no perfect system of government," he said. "But as a young chunin has been heard to say, perfection is stagnation. We must always seek to better ourselves and the world around us, not _for_ ourselves, but for those who come after us, that they might dwell in a better world than we did."

He loved teaching.

* * *

The cell that Danzou had occupied for the last few months was designed to hold powerful shinobi, with seals built inside the walls to drain away any focused chakra, keeping the occupant from using any jutsu... or bloodline limits. The only good thing about it was that _everyone_ save a handful selected when the cells were constructed had the same problem. It was a comforting thought to the old warhawk... until he discovered that Jiraiya and Tsunade were both among that handful. The slug sannin's examination of him quickly found what he'd kept hidden since the Uchiha massacre, the reason his personal power had received a sudden upswing at that time... the stolen eyes of the dead Uchiha... and the purloined cells of the Shodaime Hokage... in his arm and eye-socket. The removal of these ill-gotten gains had been without the benefit of anaesthetic, and quite painfully done, too. Now Danzou really was as he looked, a one-eyed, one-armed man, a cripple who had once been a shinobi. Jiraiya had taken a large sampling of Danzou's blood, too, likely to unburden those that had been sealed to ROOT, and thus to Danzou.

All in all, the losses and setbacks he'd suffered meant that Danzou would never be the one to lead Konoha to supremacy over the world. That his village seemed to be getting so strong with such weakened methods had told him that _his _methods would allow them to conquer the world, and prove to the Raikage that Konoha was far superior to his thieving little pit in the mountains. Unfortunately, he was the only one who could see that, and now the very village he'd sacrificed so many to serve (Not himself, of course, that would be asking too much... he couldn't lead the village if he was dead, could he now?) was sentencing him to a traitor's fate, all because he saw a weapon that was loose and tried to control it...

* * *

Danzou's mind did _not_ have a one-to-one connection with reality. That much was easy to see, especially for the figure that looked in at the door, then disappeared again, only to reappear in front of a spiral-masked man in a black cloak with red clouds on it. "It would seem that Danzou's have all been taken and destroyed, sir," the scout said. "Even the one in his head. Other than your own, I doubt there are any viable sharingan eyes left in the elemental nations."

Dismissing the spy, the Akatsuki member known as Tobi snarled. The _only_ Sharingan left were his own and Kakashi's, which threw a very great wrench into his plans. His own eye was insufficient, and he would have needed either Itachi or Sasuke's eyes to succeed. Now, with no Uchiha, he would have to find another way to start again. Fortunately, there was a perfect, ready-made puppet in the Sandaime Raikage, angry and irrational, just begging to be used...

* * *

Tsunade looked over the medical reports of her favourite couple, and compared them to the reports on the two ex-Kumo jinchuuriki in Konoha. She hadn't publicised their identities, but the Raikage had listed them as such in the Kumo Bingo Books, after refusing to retract the prices on Team Kurenai's heads. Each of the 'diplomats' had been listed as 'traitors to Kumo', backdated to the time of the chunin exams... Not even the Tsuchikage in Iwa (who'd sent Tsunade a copy of the publication with a note that read "Looks like all that comes out of Kumo is thunderstorms and fiction") was placing any faith in the old man running that village. The Raikage seemed to have developed some serious blind spots in his world-view... not unlike the village council had, now that Tsunade thought of it...

Looking up at the massive form of Ay, she began to speak. "All of you are in perfect health, it seems," she said, laying the papers back down on the desk. "Bee and Yugito are showing none of the signs of instability that were evident in Gaara, so their seals seem to be doing an excellent job. Now, since you asked for political asylum until the situation in Kumo can be resolved, I've assigned you a local escort, some genin who understand the customs of your village and their jonin-sensei. They may seem familiar to you, and they are free to discuss with you their reasons for choosing the Leaf hitai-ate if they wish. One of them in particular is of much interest to us, both for his gift at strategy and his... unusual kekkei genkai, something we have dubbed his 'Five-fold Mind'. You'll be accommodated with the team and their sensei as well, and I hope you can get along with them."

Ay nodded. He'd never expected this outcome from the way the relations between Konoha and Kumo were strained due to the _first_ Hyuuga incident. After the _second_ one, which the team had flatly decided was a suicide mission meant to dispose of them and refused to do, thankfully, and the problems with the Bingo Books, it had become obvious that the Raikage was not playing with the full deck (it looked like all the fives and tens were missing) and that remaining a Kumo nin was an... iffy proposition at best. A shinobi _expected_ to be expendable, but they at least wanted to be spent for a purpose, not discarded on a mad scheme guaranteed to fail. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," the dark-skinned ninja said. "My team and I will discuss your counter-proposal and return our decision to you."

For himself, he would have loved to go back to Kumo and set everything right by force if needed, but his little brother and the girl as good as his sister had seen the way Konoha's jinchuuriki was treated now, despite the stories of his childhood and the abduction, and he wanted that equality, that indefinable quality of life that seemed so elusive for the people who were demon-prisons, for them. It wasn't a decision to reach in a day...

* * *

Naruto looked at the two seals he placed on the wall, the one to bind mortal chakra, the other to hold back youki. They were simple things, a common seal in intermediate fuuinjutsu, intended for prisons and secure rooms to keep ninjutsu and summonings, and genjutsu, he realised, from manifesting within the seal's confines. As Hinata and he began the self imposed training, switching which seal they targeted each hour, they strove to break through the seals, by separating their chakra into the blue chakra and the red youki.

It was to this scene that Kurenai arrived in their courtyard, just as Hinata succeeded at breaking through the demon-energy seal, producing a blue flare across her new whisker-marks as she did. Naruto broke the other seal with a similar flare in red a few moments later. They were happy with their efforts, somewhat, but felt they had taken too long... five minutes in a fight could be lethal. But it was a skill that could only improve with time and practice.

"The Hokage has sent for us, and Shino will meet us there," she told them, and as they worked the jutsu to conceal their new features, she sighed. They weren't quite fourteen yet, and they'd been forced to grow up so fast... but then again, the changes they'd engendered in the village had been vast. Sure, some of those were at third-hand, but the bolstering of their shinobi ranks and the alliances with Shio and Suna, as well as the grudging yet respectful truce with Iwa, were almost directly the results of the actions of _her_ team... something to be proud of as they outgrew her. Maybe she should step up for another team this year at the Academy...

* * *

The atmosphere in Tsunade's office was tense, and the members of Team Kurenai glanced around carefully. The occupants were their team, the Hokage herself, Sarutobi Hiruzen as her advisor, Shizune to represent the hospital, Ishiguma for the Uzumaki seat on the council and finally the red-headed girl from the Oto Elite (albeit grumbling and reluctant). Shizune led off without hesitation.

"A blood test and genetic work-up has produced unexpected results, Naruto-sama," she started, emphasising the suffix to his name. "Combined with further interrogation and intelligence, we believe we have enough to put together a mission... one that has repercussions for _your _clan as a whole. We have found that this young woman is one of your clan. Genetically, she's an Uzumaki, a survivor of Uzushiogakure. Jiraiya has successfully removed Orochimaru's curse-mark from her, and is even now removing Mitarashi Anko's. We have released her into Ishiguma's custody and training. Your mission is B-rank, with a possibility of escalation to A- or maybe even S-rank, depending on exactly which shinobi you encounter."

Tsunade rose from behind the desk. "Tayuya's sister is secluded at one of Orochimaru's southern bases, and we believe that part of his research is an attempt to duplicate the Uzumaki kekkei genkai. Your mission is to rescue Uzumaki Karin, destroy any samples that Orochimaru may possess, along with any research notes, and deny him the resources of this base... reduce it to ash and salt the earth, Naruto-san."

Shino, Kurenai and the Uzumaki couple glanced at each other, and Naruto smiled.

"As you command, Hokage-sama," the young clan head replied. "Old Snake-lips will never know what hit him..."


	25. Seal 25: Convert

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it... without cookies.

**Twenty-fifth Seal: Convert.**

Staring out across the water, Naruto stretched. It was a clear day, and he could make out the coast of Umi no Kuni in the distance. The journey to this port town at the southern end of Cha no Kuni had been slower than they'd expected. The standard shinobi mode of travel, leaping through the trees from branch to branch, was complicated by his and Hinata's new form of chakra, as was their ability to utilise chakra to climb trees and walk on water. The fluctuations in their chakra flow were enough to disrupt those exercises. The shinobi couple were driven back to the basics in this matter, a state of affairs they were decidedly less than pleased about.

The previous evening had seen them striving to balance their chakra enough to climb a rather large and sturdy oak, yet where they didn't slip or stick, they blasted chunks of wood to splinters. It still needed a great deal of work, as did the water walking. It was just as well that they'd brought several extra changes of clothes, with the failure rate of the water walking exercise, and the leaf floating exercise which was considered so basic either shredded the leaves or launched them sky wards hard enough for them to catch fire. Hinata, however, came up with an idea that was rather unusual, but showed some promise... skating.

The idea was that, since they could possibly destroy a great number of trees before mastering the climbing exercise (she estimated that at their current rate, they'd have to change the village's name from Konohagakure no Sato (or the Village Hidden in the Leaves) to Teichigakure no Sato (the Village Hidden in the Plain). Likewise, they didn't want to constantly be stopping to change their clothes every time they tried to cross a river using the water walking technique. No matter how much Hinata and Naruto might have enjoyed this, it would slow down their missions... plural, because to cover their Konoha granted B to S rank, as yet to be determined by whoever they encountered, Tsunade had, in her role as Hokage, given them another mission... an ambiguous C-rank to find out what was interfering with Umi no Kuni's payments to Mizu no Kuni for Naval protection. Since the payments weren't arriving, the Mizu Navy was no longer obligated to defend the traffic from Umi. Of course, first they had to get there. The only thing that had kept them from running late on their schedule had been the increased speed and endurance that the Uzumaki shinobi had gained from their transformation.

Thus, skating... the concept of pushing just enough chakra through their feet to lift them from the ground, while _at the same time_ making that chakra smooth enough that they could skate along on it... at least until their control was good enough to travel normally.

Thus they'd practised chakra control as they travelled. While he doubted his own control was good enough for the water walking exercise as yet, Hinata had much better control, and better yet, she was able to _see_ what she was doing, and adjust it accordingly. Her being able to tell him where he was making a mistake certainly reduced the number of times _he_ was sent flying by a mistake in the exercise.

Grinning at the view, Naruto went back into the inn to find his wife...

* * *

Kurenai spoke quietly with the man before her, the captain of a ship headed for Umi no Kuni. "That should be enough for our passage, captain," she said, indicating the stacks of ryo on the table. "So what is making you so very reluctant?"

"Monsters," he replied flatly. "I saw one of those ships that was destroyed once they'd found it. Something had taken a huge bite out of the side of it... I could _see_ the teeth marks, and whatever it was, the mouth was at least as wide as I am tall." The captain was a giant of a man, too, at least seven feet tall. That meant a _big_ creature. "I can get you to this side of the main island, but from there you'll be on your own... and probably stranded until the monster or monsters are destroyed."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "Monsters?"

The grizzled man rose. "I've seen many things none would believe in my years on the sea," he replied. "But never have I seen in nature a creature that didn't come in male and female... Anyway, we leave on the morning tide." He gathered up the money.

"Do you have an objection with a short stop along the way?" the red-eyed jonin asked.

* * *

Hinata scanned the compound ahead with her Byakugan. "Empty," she stated, as she ceased the flow of chakra to her eyes. A sniff or two of the air, dusty and damp, redolent with salt, and she spoke again. "It's been abandoned for years. There's a room down the left passage that smells somewhat... familiar, although I can't tell why."

As Shino sent a wave of kikaichu to scout the corridor in question, Naruto was performing the hand-signs of the summoning jutsu, snapping out crisp words as he did. "Kuchiyose no jutsu: Mongoose Triplets!" With a small cloud of smoke they appeared, each of the three mongoose summons roughly the size of a wolf. Rikki, the oldest triplet, had a blue jacket and a black collar with a bronze bell on it, while his brother Tikki wore a yellow jacket and a black iron bell. The youngest triplet, and the only girl, Tavi, wore a red jacket and gold bell, but also had a red ribbon tied around her head like a hitai-ate. She was the one who did the speaking. "Whaddya need us for, nii-san?"

Naruto grinned. "This place was set up by Snake-lips, guys," he explained, gaining their immediate and total attention. All mongooses were curious and playful but one mention of the s-word (snake) had them become serious, efficient engines of speed and devastation. "We need scouts who can handle the traps he might have set up, and I couldn't think of any better team than you three. We have this side covered," here he pointed to the left side of the complex, "and if you guys can cover that side," he indicated the right, "then I'll get you all some shrimp ramen before I send you home. Deal?"

Three high and clear voices responded as the mongoose summons left little mongoose-shaped clouds of dust behind. "_Such_ a deal!"

* * *

Team Kurenai was thorough. After finding nothing, they set explosive tags and incendiaries to reduce the base to ash and rubble. With the eager assistance of the Mongoose triplets, the work went swiftly... except when the time came to activate the tags, the fluctuations in their chakra meant it took a few tries for Naruto and Hinata to set theirs off. As the four of them (seven counting Naruto's summons) strode towards the beach and the waiting ship, the destroyed compound blazed fiercely behind them, fiercely enough to reduce even the stones to gravel from the heat.

* * *

As the four shinobi sped across the main island of Umi no Kuni, with Hinata and Naruto finally managing to achieve sufficient control of their new chakra for arboreal travel, another Konoha team was arriving in a far dryer land. There on the border a guide was waiting for them, a familiar-looking blonde whose hair was in four short pigtails and who carried a massive fan.

"So you would be the inspectors from Konoha?" she asked, standing a good distance back from the border. "I'm here to get you to Suna. Sabaku no Temari, at your service." Her voice held no great warmth for the Konoha ninja, but nor was she openly hostile. "We'd better get moving, desert travel is a little different to what you're used to. To make the best time, we're going to use a technique we call 'sand-skimming'. It's similar in nature to the water-walking techniques, but you have to take into account the differences between sand and water... and their similarities."

"Once we have that down, what else do we have to worry about?" Shikamaru asked. Sakura was unable to bring herself to step up and speak, her missing arm seemingly having taken a large portion of her confidence with it. "Desert survival is something we rarely needed in Hi no Kuni."

Temari raised the corner of her mouth in a half-smile that acknowledged the dry humour in the young chunin's sarcastic statement. "In the desert, the best place to carry your water is inside yourself. Water jutsu are severely disadvantaged here unless you know the real trick of their use. Never travel during the height of the day unless there is no other choice. Midday kills, and midnight is cold enough we'd have snow if there were enough water in the air for it. We travel at night, select watches for the day, keep an abundance of water sealed somewhere on our persons and a fair amount of food and salt too. My advice? Always have a knowledgeable guide," she said, smiling slightly. "Now, once you've got sand-skimming under your belt, we'd better get moving."

* * *

Naruto stood on the beach looking towards the docks where the ships were being loaded. This was the fourth gold shipment that Umi no Kuni would attempt, they were taking no chances they didn't have to. Scraping together the amount required for a C-rank had apparently strained the island nation's budget, but they _had_ warned the Hokage that there was a chance, and likely a good chance at that, that the mission could wind up being more dangerous than they estimated.

Naruto saw the girl emerging from the shack at the far end of the beach at the same time as he noticed the children (he couldn't think of them as anything else, even if one or two were a year or so older than he by the look of things) picking up rocks and sticks. A low growl came to his attention, and even as he realised it was his, he was approaching the would-be thugs.

At that, he was a touch late, as the ringleader hurled a stone and yelled angrily. "Get lost, freak! We don't want you here, you monster!"

* * *

Isaribi saw the rock leave the boy's hand, and her eyes widened. Again... again they were attacking her because she was different, and with her bandages covering large sections of her body, she couldn't really deny it. With what had happened to her, she could have killed them, easily, as they all helped with the fishing at some point or another, but all the girl really wanted was a cure... some way to reverse her unasked for condition. Clenching her eyes shut, knowing she was unable to avoid the rock, she waited for it to hit... and waited. Cracking open her left eye, she peered around. She'd been sure that rock was going to hit her...

There in front of her stood a boy of about the same age as she, wearing a long dark orange coat with black flames about the hem, and a red spiral square in the middle of his back. His left hand was extended, gripping the rock that would have struck her, and her eyes noted a plain gold band on his third finger... the ring finger. He squeezed the rock hard as the children began to berate the stranger for interfering with them dealing with the monster, and she knew he'd hate her now. As he looked over his shoulder, she met his gaze with her own as he took in her bandages and their odd placement about her body, bracing herself for the rejection and hate...

"Where?" he asked, shocking her, and surprising the would-be mob. "All I see is a girl who needed help. My Hinata-hime would never forgive me... heck, _I_ would never forgive me... if I didn't help those I could." Turning back to the children gathered ahead of him, he snarled, and the hitai-ate around his neck gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. "I've seen and fought _real_ monsters before, and the worst ones... they were as human as you children, and as judgemental of anything that didn't fit their narrow views." With a final squeeze, the rock, only sandstone, but still a rock, crumbled in his fist. Dropping the fragments, he left, and Isaribi wondered what his game was.

* * *

In the shadows of an alley, two figures watched this scene play out. The stockier of the two turned to the taller and thinner man. "That's the Uzumaki brat from the Exams, isn't it?" At his partner's nod, the first man grinned beneath his mask. "So that means we get a shot at destroying him, and probably those other freaks in his team, too. Go tell Amachi, and _I'll_ let little Fishy-ribi know what her orders are." The two quickly parted ways, and the stockier man smirked. He might well enjoy this job for once... breaking a Konoha nin down for 'research material' as Amachi called it, would just be fun...

* * *

Naruto spoke quietly as he reported to the red-eyed jonin. "She was angry, but not at the villagers... well, maybe a little, but she wasn't about to attack them," he said. "She's the odd one out around here, not treated particularly well... she reminded me of me, a bit... and she _smelled_ like a sea creature. There's a depth to the salty scent that you don't get unless you are one. I don't know, she just... smelled fishy..."

The light slap to his shoulder, a playful gesture, knocked him over, and Hinata gasped, then began apologising profusely. The small amount of time since the event that had transformed them meant she _still_ wasn't completely used to her new strength yet. Naruto took it in stride, laughing and waving it off. The two of them had recently reset their gravity seals to six and seven, with Hinata being at six and rapidly catching up to her husband. Jiraiya had told them to be careful adjusting them to anything higher than five, as most humans (including, much to their sorrow, Maito Gai and Rock Lee) couldn't handle the strain on their internal organs. Of course, they deactivated them for the water-walking exercise, or when aboard a ship... with their current level of control, falling into the water with that much extra weight would hinder their ability to swim... significantly.

And the ocean was a little damp.

* * *

Sakura stared at Kankuro. It was disturbing in a way, almost disconcerting. The slightly older boy wasn't wearing his war-paint...

"What?" he asked, indignantly. "Is there something wrong with my face? Does it not cover the front of my head like it should? Is it not sufficiently face-shaped?" His sarcastic questions dragged Sakura from the near-trance she'd entered on seeing the Suna puppeteer. She'd spaced out, not even hearing the Suna medic nearby introducing himself.

"Um.. sorry?" she ventured. "If you're this good looking, why the paint?" She covered her mouth, shocked at the words she'd just spoken... that had sounded like something her 'Inner Sakura' would say... The pink-haired kunoichi thought quickly and hard. She hadn't actually had any conversations with herself since... that incident. Even in her mind she shied away from the thought that _she_ had killed Sasuke.

"I've heard that question before," the dark-haired Suna ninja said. "The simple answer is, because of the handsomeness. Girls are always about the looks, never about the skills. With the paint, the first thing they see is the puppets, and anyone who can't see past the 'dolls' that I 'play with', isn't someone worth knowing." Sakura's reaction surprised him, a little, given her attitude during the Chunin Exams. She simply nodded.

"That makes sense," she said. She looked at the puppets that were arrayed against the young man's wall. "These are well-made, if that helps," she noted. "Tsunade-sama, the Hokage, suggested that a combination of puppet mastery and medical jutsu might help with my... _hand_icap."

Rolling his eyes, Kankuro reached for an unattached arm blank of about the right size. "I'll go out on a _limb_ here," he replied, "and guess your attempt at humour is supposed to dis_arm_ me."

Sakura groaned at _his _puns, as she scanned her mind for others. Making fun of her own disability was a coping mechanism, but it was one that was working. With Kankuro making it into a contest as he measured the arm against her, this might not be as bad as she'd dreaded. "It didn't work? I'll just have to _shoulder_ the burden... but on the other _hand_, the situation is a little _humerus_." It was Kankuro's turn to groan as he searched for other arm-related puns... and Temari watched the duel of bad humour with something akin to astonishment...

* * *

The ocean was smooth, relatively speaking. With Team Kurenai aboard, the ship began its journey to the turnover point where the Mizu vessels would take the cargo the rest of the way. Naruto and Hinata were meditating at the bow, twitching each muscle a fraction as they tested their strength with neither weights nor seals to burden them. After their training they felt extraordinarily light and fast, and it would take time to get used to the switch between the two. With the stern of the boat covered by Shino and his kikaichu beetles, Kurenai stood by the helmsman's station, co-ordinating. With the heightened senses of hearing that each of her chunin possessed, she could speak normally, here, and they would still hear her. It was a decent deployment in case of ambush, but if this whole thing was set-up by who or what ever was destroying the ships...

Naruto snarled and Hinata privately agreed with him. Out here on the open sea, the smell of salt was so strong, so overpowering, that someone had to be nearly too close in order to smell them at all. It was strange to her, getting used to this new and distracting sense of smell, so much more powerful than she'd ever thought. Her respect for Naruto grew even more, and as for Kiba... well, she still respected him... How did they manage to sift through all the smells they found?

Naruto's only hint of what was about to occur was the slight rippling of the water ahead. He heard it just as the ship shuddered to a dead stop, rocking the whole vessel lengthwise on its keel, as Naruto sprang to his feet, extending his arm so Hinata could catch hold of it as she too leaped up, both drawing themselves to the deck with the tree-climbing technique.

The tentacle that came over the edge of the ship, a translucent watery thing with a number of thicker 'lumps' in it, rendered these valiant efforts futile as it swept them heavily from the deck, toward the rocks to port, not that far from what looked like a large rocky island. The tentacle belonged to some weird creature, and standing on top of that creature was a man in a white lab coat and a grey suit beneath it that resembled the ones Naruto had last seen on the proctors at the Chunin Exams... speaking of which, he _knew_ that smell...

He crashed into the grip of a man who promptly stretched his arms around the jinchuuriki, entangling and trapping him, as his stockier partner grabbed at Hinata's arm and pulled her from her husband's grasp. "_Yoroi and Misumi,_" Naruto thought, wishing he'd been able to identify them a few moments earlier, even as Misumi placed a re-breather across his own face and dragged the blond shinobi into the depths. With Naruto's current buoyancy, they swam like a brick of gold... very, very fast, but _only_ straight down...

* * *

"Naruto!" Hinata cried out, seeing her true love disappear into the water, even as a young woman with scales and fins leaped from the water to lash out at Shino, while Kurenai was kept busy fighting the sea monster (literally a monster that seemed to be made from sea-water) and the man guiding it. Her captor chuckled villainously.

Yoroi seemed to be enjoying this as he grabbed the girl with his other hand, and initiated his chakra-draining ability. "Don't struggle, pretty thing," he leered, although she couldn't see what his face looked like under the veil he wore. "I'll take better care of you than that boyfriend ever could, now that he's good as dead... but to be on the safe side, I think I'll drain all your chakra first... Do you feel that, the massive flow of energy from you to me?"

Hinata was puzzled, and let it show. "Umm... no, I don't feel anything. And about that... are you sure it's chakra?"

The confused look on Yoroi's face was lifted by the burning sensation that began in his hands and slowly spread up his arms, following the pathways the stolen chakra had taken as he dropped the girl and began to scream. "How... AHHH! what did gah! you do to me, you AARRGH!"

Hinata looked at him with a glacial expression, cold and unforgiving, an understandable expression given his threats. "Me? Nothing. You did this to yourself. Didn't your mother tell you not to take things that weren't yours?" she replied as the heavy man's screams grew to incoherency. "If you'd asked I'd have told you, my youki is toxic to your chakra coils." She drew some of her chakra, she had plenty left, and gathered it in her hands as she attacked. "Gentle Storm: Cerebral Hurricane!" Driving her palm dead centre into Yoroi's forehead, she watched dispassionately as the other shinobi skipped across the waves before sinking into the deeps.

* * *

Beneath the water, Naruto had managed to get a good lungful of air before Misumi dragged him under. Feeding chakra into his skeleton brought forth his spikes and blades, and since he didn't want the ninja on his back escaping easily, the bonemetal wielder barbed them as they sprang forth. Unfortunately, the elastic ninja felt the blades emerging, and kicked loose of Naruto before the skeletal protrusions could reach him. Naruto would have cursed, could he afford the air. This environment favoured the enemy, he could see, and although the skipping splashes overhead indicated Yoroi's defeat, and thus his Hinata-hime's victory, the blond jinchuuriki had to focus here and now... His elemental jutsu wouldn't help here... fire was useless underwater, lightning was as much a danger to him as to his enemy, and wind simply had nothing to work with. Slashing with his claws was going to be futile, thanks to the water resistance, and his bonemetal significantly hampered his movement options.

If he tried to surface, Misumi would have him again, and if he didn't, he'd run out of air... He hoped the others were doing better than he.

* * *

Shino ducked and dodged as best he could, but this girl was both fast and strong. If she'd had any shinobi training at all, or if her heart had actually been in this, he would have been in big trouble. As it was, she was simply attempting to grab him... likely to hurl him into the water in the hopes that his own colonies would finish him off. Exerting his chakra, the young Aburame sent out his beetles. With the girl's scales and her amphibious nature, the likelihood they'd have the time to drain her chakra was minimal. Instead, his beetles were for something else...

"Aburame Hijutsu: Kikaichu Shock-storm." The calm, passionless voice gave the girl a moment of the chills, and Shino's beetles sparked with his lightning chakra even as his earth chakra insulated them from the side effects of the jutsu. With a sharp crack of light and noise, and the sudden smell of ozone, the altered girl went down. "Far too easy," Shino commented as he turned to aid his sensei, even as Hinata sprang back over the railing.

* * *

Amachi was raging. This wasn't supposed to happen. Orochimaru-sama was supposed to come here in a month's time to see the progress Amachi was making, and possibly give the go-ahead to break that red-head he'd left here, the one who kept whining about finding her sister. Annoying, but tolerable. _Now_, he had these ninja interfering with his testing schedule, and preventing the acquisition of funding... this research wasn't cheap, by any means... and generally ticking him off. That woman was interfering with his Umibozu's senses somehow, an impressive feat, given that it didn't have any perceivable sensory organs, and holding it and him back. If he rose above the deck to guide it, she threw kunai at him, and if he didn't she kept hurling explosive tags that kept the sea-monster from destroying the vessel. Watching Isaribi taken down so easily wasn't helping, as it meant he needed better base material for the warriors he wanted to perfect before he made himself into one. That purple-eyed girl jumping back onto the ship didn't bode well for the fate of Yoroi... so that one wasn't good material for the task either. As he frantically conceived and discarded plans to fight, he smirked. Who'd have thought that useless Misumi would be the best suited?

* * *

Misumi was wondering what was going on up there, and if he'd be able to finish his enemy in time to claim a piece of the action from Yoroi. Since Kabuto's disappearance, they'd been very low-rung men on Orochimaru's ladder, hence this assignment. And now he got to kill this brat... Orochimaru would definitely have a reward for this one's body, it was just a matter of getting hold of it. With his re-breather good for fifteen minutes, Misumi would be easily able to drown this little monster... if he could figure out what he was up to...

Naruto had extended his claws, and was building a Rasengan in each hand, against the resistance of the water, with some side-effects. He couldn't push wind or lightning chakra into his claws down here, so he tried to find and push in some fire-aspected chakra... the bubbles boiling around them indicated some success, even if it wasn't the wildfires he'd have managed were he above the water. Bending the shape of his claws with his chakra, the young shinobi formed a guiding spiral with them. They would revert to normal once he stopped channelling his chakra into them, but that was more than fine by him.

The dual Rasengan were tugging at the water around them, drawing it into a pair of maelstroms, vortexes of destructive water currents bent on destroying that which they trapped, and the renegade ninja was dragged in as well, his elongated limbs a disadvantage now, as he was left with the choice of losing limbs or being pulled along. Naruto grinned, taking advantage of the air-pocket the currents forced into existence between them to roar out his new attack's improvised name. "Rasenjutsu: Double Maelstrom Fists!"

* * *

Kurenai was tiring quickly, the genjutsu she was using on this creature was chewing through her chakra reserves fast, and it was still all she could do to get it to miss more often than not. Shino's kikaichu were of little help against it as she strove to find a way to beat it. "Hinata!" she called out. "See if you can isolate and strike this thing's vitals!"

The younger kunoichi activated her Byakugan, idly wondering if she was going to have to call it something else now... the Shigan, maybe? Purple eye? It might need some polish... As she scanned the creature, she noted a lack of chakra coils... it was as though the entire creature were a chakra-based construct, or a summons, but there were seven centralised pools of chakra that should be vulnerable... Pushing her violet chakra into her hands she lashed out at the tentacle as it rushed past, unleashing the Gentle Storm. The pulse of energy burst through the creature, disrupting the 'lumps', the chakra centres, causing them to explode, and the sea water that made the tentacle to splash across the deck.

Unfortunately, the sixth centre had detonated before the chakra pulse could reach it, cutting off the tentacle before the energy could disrupt the whole creature, but Hinata had bought a little time. Even as the creature began to regrow its centres, spiralling each out at the end of its own tentacle, Hinata relayed the information she'd gathered. "It's some kind of summon," she called to Kurenai and Shino, as the three shinobi ran to the rail and looked over at the lab coat wearing ninja-researcher.

Amachi snarled. He'd been fooled by those purple eyes, but that girl had to be a Hyuuga, to see and target the chakra centres like that, but even they couldn't cause such a pulse, at least not that he knew of. Obviously he needed more up to date data, and dissecting these fools should get that information for him... As he braced to attack, he caught a glimpse from the corners of his eyes of two whirlpools forming, one on each side of his Umibozu, and noticed a sense of dread...

* * *

The double maelstroms that Naruto unleashed upwards, forcing the hapless Misumi through a terrifying and apparently endless figure-eight pattern as they drove him relentlessly up, past the surface in a twin waterspout that also tore through the centre of the sea monster as it threw the highly resilient rogue ninja into the air, high enough that coming down on the ocean was as good as landing on solid granite. Amachi was thrown into the water in an attempt to avoid the attack, only to find that the water wasn't there... and something hard slammed into his gut as it grabbed him from mid-air as it catapulted from the ocean floor to the waiting ship, a fraction of a second ahead of the returning ocean.

As Naruto landed on the deck, the winded researcher slung over the shoulder he'd driven into the man's belly, even as Misumi plummeted screaming to the ocean, a scream cut short by a loud crack as he slapped face-first to the surface, the jinchuuriki straightened up, dumping the man across his shoulder to the deck. "Look, Kurenai-sensei," he said, a real and fox-like grin upon his face. "Instant answers, just add fear!"


	26. Seal 26: Empower

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. It's not the one with my name on it that worries me, it's the countless ones marked 'to the occupant'.

**Twenty-sixth Seal: Empower.**

Sakura strained her control, moving her chakra sluggishly into the artificial arm. The wood had been harvested from the same trees that supplied the chakra sensitive paper that revealed elemental affinities, and was specially treated before being put to this purpose. Kankuro had carved ornate channels into the wood as he assembled the limb, and those channels held chakra sensitive metal, to act as an artificial chakra system for the intended recipient. Then over _that_ he'd plated more wood, and secured the whole thing with leather and plates of steel. The shoulder had been tricky, trying to find a way to both pad the joint _and_ connect a chakra-based link that enabled her to use it. After all that, she now had to get used to the feeling of the arm so she could move it around. There was no way for him to replace her sense of touch, though, so they'd also been working on her left-hand skills.

The pink-haired kunoichi was struggling with her chakra, and showed it, finally letting the arm dangle limp in its harness. Although it was possible to secure the artificial arm to the shoulder in a permanent fashion, it was deemed (by the puppet-maker himself, Kankuro) to be better to finalise all the adjustments and complete the regular training before that happened. After a few moments rest, and a quick drink of water, Sakura set herself to practice again.

* * *

With the information that Kurenai had ensured Amachi was only too eager to provide (the threat to slow-roast the man's bollocks _without_ removing them first was particularly effective) the small group of shinobi, with both their prisoners in tow, entered the research facility hidden on the island. It was the work of minutes to find the cells with a guide, however grouchy that guide may have been. As Hinata unlocked the doors to release the surviving prisoners (Amachi grumbled about losing 'research material' until Kurenai offered to let him research his own double orchidectomy, and the bound researcher cringed in an attempt to protect his 'apples'), Naruto began scouring the copious notes that Amachi had taken.

"There's a lot here on making these aquatic people," he remarked, "but there's no sign of any attempt to cure or reverse the procedure." He saw the girl's shoulders slump as he spoke. "I guess he was just going to kill anyone who turned on him... hmm. Enhanced strength, speed... the ability to transform back and forth at will... I'd guess he was planning on perfecting the process and using it on himself. Any 'failures' would be disposed of, read that as killed, once they were of no use."

"Naruto!" Hinata called out. "I've found her!"

The young ninja wasted no time, following his wife's voice down the corridors to a cell that held a young woman, a girl really, of about their own age. Her outfit had clearly seen better days, and there were bite-marks all up and down her arms... not scars, but recent enough that they hadn't fully healed. "Karin, is it?" Naruto asked, and the nervous-looking girl nodded. "Tayuya couldn't make it, sorry, one of Orochimaru's plans backfired on him, and she was caught by the target... Konoha. They sent us to get you and bring you home."

Karin looked at this boy, barely her own age, if that. That sick and twisted Amachi was their prisoner, which meant they were good enough to take him down, and from what she'd heard, those two ninja Orochimaru had sent here to keep an eye on him were out of the picture. "H-home?" she stammered. "Where's that supposed to be? In a village that didn't help when Uzu no Kuni was destroyed by Iwa and Kumo once the Yellow Flash was dead? What makes you think I'd go along with that?"

Naruto glanced across to Hinata, then back to Karin. "No better alternative? Besides, it'd be different, you'd be with family."

The girl snorted. "What, now I get to share a cell with my sister? Real nice of you."

Hinata smiled sadly. "Well, if you really want to..." At the pale shade that spread across Karin's face she almost laughed. "But we thought you'd both like to live with your clan."

The stunned expression that swept across the red-head's face was amusing, and Naruto turned to Kurenai. "Sensei, are we all set?"

The jonin nodded. "Shino's sealed the notes and his kikaichu are setting the tags as we speak. Most of the prisoners here made a break for freedom, but I used prison scrolls on a few... they're in the Bingo Book for things like murder... and worse..."

Having been Kurenai's genin, they knew very well what she meant by 'worse'. Making a mental note to have Karin receive a _full_ medical check from Tsunade herself, he turned to her, the girl they'd just rescued. "So would you like to come and at least talk to Tayuya-chan before you make a decision. Until you make a choice, I'm sure we can look after you. There's more than a few unused rooms at our place," he said, extending his hand.

Karin was hesitant, not entirely trusting. "Why should I trust you? Who's this 'family' you claim I'd be staying with? There's no Uzu shinobi in Konoha that I heard of since the Kyuubi killed the last one."

Naruto stood, rubbing the back of his neck as Hinata giggled, a light tinkling sound that sent shivers up his spine... good ones. "That would be Tayuya of course, but there's a few others, as she wouldn't be enough on her own," he replied. "But our clan representative on the council spoke up in her favour, and the clan head has given her a room, so there won't be much more effort adding you to the deal. In fact, she traded information on Orochimaru to get this mission going for you, even if it wasn't in the clan's interests to do so." As Karin stared at him, torn between fear and anger, fear that this was all a hoax, a lie, that would be used to dash her hopes and humiliate her, and anger that they'd use Tayuya and the 'influence' of clan and family to taunt her like this, Naruto paused to watch. When she'd schooled herself to patience, the anger a little stronger than the fear, he went on.

"Family and Clan are here to save you, Uzumaki Karin. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, this is my wife Uzumaki Hinata, our team-mate Aburame Shino and our jonin-captain, Yuhi Kurenai. We're here to bring you home... to the Uzumaki District in Konoha."

It was one shock too many, and the girl's eyes rolled back in her head as she fainted.

* * *

Yugito and Bee looked around carefully. Due to their current status in the Kumo Bingo Books (Bee had been so upset by the declaration his 'father' had made that he'd lost interest in making up rap... something that Ay and Yugito were thankful for) neither was wearing their Kumo hitai-ate, and now the two jinchuuriki were exploring Konoha, or rather, the non-shinobi sections of Konoha. As Kumo shinobi, they hadn't expected access to any of the ninja areas, so receiving such permission as to look over the Konoha Academy had been a surprise. As they watched the various children practising with kunai and shuriken, knowing they were being carefully watched by ANBU, a precaution any Kage would have to take, they were mildly surprised at how they were being treated. They'd recognised their 'guides'... the team that the Raikage had sent to the Chunin Exams with 'secret' orders to steal a Byakugan child from the Hyuuga's main house.

Yugito had never quite understood aspects on both sides of that conflict. Why hadn't the Raikage simply entered into negotiations with the Elders of that clan to expand their influence into _another_ village? With a very little amount of effort, and some compromise, it could have been mutually beneficial. Of course, there would have been issues of loyalty, with the clan spread out between two villages like that, but a treaty or two with Konoha, whose biggest proponent of war had been that Danzou fellow, and that would have been settled. She shook her head for a moment. Of course, the Raikage felt that open war was the way to measure a Hidden Village's strength, but they were shinobi... open war was supposed to be the last resort, not the _first_.

Bee was looking around, too, noting the blend between function and fashion, utility and appearance, that was all around them. He waved over their guide for the day... Suzume. Her sister Fukuro was helping some Inuzuka at the Academy today, in fact he could see her from where he stood, demonstrating the benefits of animal partners, and explaining the responsibilities. The diminutive kunoichi didn't look very dangerous, but then neither did one of those tiny blue-ringed octopuses from the tropics. "Yo, girl, where can I unfurl? Just lay about and let it all hang out." He winced. Apparently not making up rap was going to be harder than he'd thought... although, if he thought about it, that one had actually felt... better... than the ones he 'forced'. Maybe it was that the subconscious stuff bounced better? "I just mean, we need some space, to let our minds go and fall into place."

Yugito was slack-jawed (inwardly, at least... no sense in letting it show just yet) at Bee's sudden facility with the way the words fit together. Then she twigged to the concept. He wasn't _trying_ to rap any longer, he simply _did_. "Somewhere to sit and think would be nice, thanks," she agreed after she'd recovered. "Somewhere... peaceful, I think."

Suzume nodded. "This way then," she said, leading them towards the biggest landmark in the village, the Hokage Monument. "There's a big park up there," she continued, pointing, "as well as several training grounds. There'll be somewhere suited to sit and discuss what you want to do, how to share your burdens, whether or not Kumo or Konoha is trustworthy... I mean, the choice we made might not be for you, so you may even need to think of alternatives."

As they turned to go, they were approached by a quartet of youngsters, with a couple of extra tag-alongs drifting behind them. Among them was a Hyuuga girl. Yugito sighed. This was going to be awkward, she knew it.

"Excuse me, Kumo-san," Hanabi said, speaking directly to Bee. "Could you explain something for me, please? Why does the Raikage want the Byakugan so bad that he'd kidnap my sister, or me? Why would he steal it like that?" She'd been nervous when Kono-kun had suggested this way to find out, but there were times that the cute boy... "_I did _not_ just think that!_" she railed at herself, before admitting privately that he was... and his direct attitude made strides that more lateral thinking could not. As the huge dark-skinned man crouched, bringing his eyes to her level, even if his sunglasses hid them, she felt a knot in her stomach.

"My old man, who had the plan, I don't think he's right," Bee said. "Sorry t'say, I don't hold sway, of how he's gonna fight. Don't think he's well, that I can tell, but what I'm gonna say, I 'pologise, an' tell no lies, I won't let him take anyone away." The last line seemed a little rushed, but emphasised. Yugito put her gloved hand on Bee's shoulder.

Hanabi frowned as she thought about this, and looked around at the people who all stood ready to fight if this was a ruse. Deciding the big man was honest, she nodded, and smiled, a shy smile that lit her face up like a sunrise... at least according to Konohamaru. "Thank you, Kumo-san," she said. "I am sorry to have bothered you."

As she turned away, Bee looked up at Yugito, who nodded. This village had treated them far better, even knowing what they held, than Kumo had... perhaps because of the examples of what a jinchuuriki could do and be, thanks to that Uzumaki boy... Naruto, she thought his name was.

Bee's voice caught the attention of the children and the shinobi standing ready. "Oh little sprite, that ain't quite right, fo' what you done ignite, is Yugito an' me, the Killer Bee, are Konoha's tonight. We got no name, no claim to fame, but we shall stand and fight, where does our bro, him you should know, he does it 'cause it's right," Bee rapped, his full heart in it, the words just coming out smoother now he wasn't concentrating on them. "So check it out, we roar an' shout, an' set our goals much higher, to show that we, can live as free, an' carry your Will of Fire."

Then something happened that had never happened before, at least to Bee. There was applause...

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was enraged when he found the experimental notes pertaining to Karin. He was still a _little_ upset when they activated the explosive and incendiary tags, and overfed them with as much youki as chakra. They were, fortunately, a goodly distance away, on a ship carrying them away from the island when he did, and the island... ceased to exist. It was doubtful any thing larger than a grain of rice remained, and it would have been a very small grain of rice indeed. The shockwave from the explosion was visible in the _air, _by the thousand and one kami, and even a few miles distant was strong enough to shake the ship like a terrier with a rat.

"Oops," Naruto said from the deck, where he'd landed with Hinata on top of him. "I guess I may have overdone it a little."

* * *

Tsunade glared at the scroll in front of her. It was a message from the Raikage, laying out a list of demands in order to avoid a war between Kumo and Konoha... Item one was turning over all Kumo traitors and jinchuuriki in Konoha, at that. Since that would have included Naruto, this was a no-brainer. She was racking her brains to try to come up with a diplomatic way to say 'go to Jigoku' when she scanned the next line. Item two demanded the turnover of 'untainted samples' of the Sharingan and Byakugan to Kumo... and even went so far as to say exactly what such was defined as. Apparently the man didn't believe that Sasuke was dead, or Itachi blind. The only reason the last surviving Uchiha continued to draw breath was the steady flow of information to Ibiki and Jiraiya about the Akatsuki.

Throwing the demands into the fire, she picked up a second message, this one from Iwa. Despite the loss of Ishiguma and Otome to Konoha, having them adopted into the Uzumaki clan was a step up in their status, garnering a portion of the healthy respect granted Uzumaki Kushina during her time fighting against them. Oonoki, the Tsuchikage, was a shrewd old man who held a grudge as though it was carved in stone... but he was anything but a fool, and since Konoha had three of the nine jinchuuriki within its walls, and as of yesterday, their shinobi ranks as well, he was contemplating a peace treaty that would supersede the one already in existence since the end of the previous Great Shinobi War. He'd even delivered his own intelligence on the probable locations of the other four jinchuuriki... Konoha already _knew_ where three were, and he wasn't going to expose his two to the possibility of being 'poached' from under his nose (which cast a fairly large shadow, if Tsunade remembered right). Sabaku no Gaara in Suna... she already knew that. The Sanbi's host was the previous Mizukage, who was dead now, dispersing his biju. The others were Utakata of Kirigakure no Sato, who was in a self-imposed exile... and likely on the run from Kiri hunter-nin, and then there was the one in Takigakure no Sato, Fu.

At first Tsunade wasn't sure why the old man thought she was collecting all the jinchuuriki... but a few minutes of thought allowed her to see why he might think that. It was all a coincidence, but no-one would ever believe _that_.

She really wished there was some other way to protect _her_ people, but it seemed her choices were vanishing fast...

* * *

Unaware of impending wars, Team Kurenai raced through the trees, with Hinata carrying Karin while Naruto did the same for Isaribi. The two of them were, perhaps oddly to their passengers due to their being the smaller two of the team, the strongest physically... not something that either could have boasted as little as two months ago. The gates of Konoha were not that far now, beckoning the travellers home...

Ichiraku's was busy tonight, with several teams returning from their various missions. Even Team Kurenai was due back that day, and were likely at the Hokage Tower even now delivering their report. As she thought this, Sakura took up the chopsticks in her left hand, her cloak thrown back over her left shoulder, while still concealing the right side of the kunoichi. Ayame had thoughtfully supplied a bowl that was able to be affixed to the counter top through the use of a suction cup, and the pink-haired girl had become fairly proficient with her formerly bad hand. She'd heard of people being equally good with both hands, and the word for them was ambidextrous, from some foreign tongue where dexter meant right. Apparently everyone was thought to be good with that hand in that culture. So did that mean she'd become ambisinistrous? Sinister meant left in that same language, after all.

"Hey Sakura!" The familiar voice of Naruto rang out, and the girl so named turned. There were Naruto and Hinata, hand in hand, smiling to see a friend. She found herself smiling weakly, and thinking on the past as the couple sat down beside her. "Glad to see you got back, too," the blond jinchuuriki said. "We managed our mission for the Hokage fairly well, and we managed the clan mission, too. You were part of the Suna inspection team, right? What news about Gaara?"

Sakura smirked. "Gaara has been _much_ better since he started sleeping regularly, and since he can get sleep, apparently the Ichibi has less of a hold on him now. Temari was flirting with Shikamaru if you can believe it... it only took three or four games of shogi and another few of go before they really got serious. I spent most of the time I was there with Kankuro and this medic called... Usagi? I can't quite recall, he wasn't much help until the end when they fixed it in place... working with _this_." Somewhat self-conscious, she brought out her new arm from beneath the cloak, revealing it for the first time in Konoha outside the Hokage Tower.

Naruto whistled low and long as she did, and Hinata was also impressed. The plates of wood and steel bore he sheen of lacquer, and each piece had been carefully shaped and fitted. To Hinata's eyes, as she wielded her newly named Zenmi Shigan (loosely translated to all-seeing purple eyes), the arm held chakra pathways and... not tenketsu, those were fragile things compared to what she saw here... nodes was the only word that fit. The arm was obviously artificial, and just as obviously a work of art. Even the lacquer had been infused with a certain degree of chakra, and patterns beneath it... There was a cherry tree at Sakura's shoulder, trailing 'falling' petals down her arm to the crimson-lacquered knuckle-plates. The chakra that Sakura used to move the arm was no more than she'd have used moving the real limb, and Hinata could see that it was a fraction, and a tiny fraction at that, of what the arm could bring to bear. Sakura's earth chakra would be able to strengthen the wood and metal of the arm immensely, too.

The pink-haired shinobi smiled as the Uzumakis examined her arm. "You think it's cool now, wait till you see what it has tucked away," she said. "With all the little tricks we managed to work into this, I can never again say there's no tricks up my sleeve..."

* * *

In a hidden cavern, before a huge and ugly statue, the remaining members of Akatsuki gathered. Their 'leader' had called them together, to discuss what the changes in Konoha would do to their plan.

"Should they continue to gather the jinchuuriki at this rate," said the man with a triple-bladed scythe, "they'll have done our work for us, and we can just swoop in, destroy them and take the biju all at once!"

"I doubt that, Hidan," replied the one called Sasori. "If they get all six surviving jinchuuriki, then the odds are good that they'll pursue the Sanbi when it regenerates in the next few years. On top of that, they destroyed two of our more powerful members. Itachi was taken down by that Hyuuga girl... sorry, she's an Uzumaki now, isn't she? And Kisame apparently was overmatched by the Kyuubi's vessel. I don't think we can win if we wait that long. We have to strike soon."

Deidara, formerly from Iwa, nodded. He hated agreeing with Sasori on anything, but when he was right... "I don't think two of us will be enough," he said as he added his opinion. "Even if one of those two is Pain. We really need two for _each_ jinchuuriki."

Pain, bearer of the Rinnegan, nodded. "We cannot afford for them to acquire more of the jinchuuriki, or they will grow too powerful for us to take. For now... Hidan, Kakuzu, the two of you are to seize the Nanabi jinchuuriki while Deidara and Sasori acquire the Ichibi. We cannot extract the biju yet, but we _can_ imprison their hosts until we need them."

* * *

Naruto woke with Hinata in his arms, and in the distance heard Tayuya and Karin. whispering, trying to keep the noise down. Isaribi was at the hospital being examined by Tsunade and Shizune while the notes on her transformation were explored for clues on reversing the process. So far, the process was incomplete, according to those very notes, and would have to be completed or the girl would eventually grow ill from the incompatibilities between her body's differing natures. The upside to this was that she'd gain the ability to switch back and forth to a fully human form and the kaima, or sea-devil, form. Beyond that, there was as yet no cure. Of course, that wouldn't stop the greatest medic-nin in the Elemental Nations from looking, and in the meantime, Isaribi was being taught the shinobi arts.

As the couple emerged from their room, their door-chimes sounded, and Naruto went to see who it was, even as Hinata began to prepare their breakfast. The ANBU outside the door wore a lion mask, and spoke quickly. "Hokage-sama is calling for Uzumaki Naruto and Hinata to present themselves at the Hokage Tower at one hour past noon. It seems the reward for a task well-done is another, more difficult task. Good luck, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto turned that over in his mind as he ate silently, with his Hinata-chan matching him bite for bite. Not so much the message as the method of delivery... there had been respect and a little awe in the ANBU's voice and mannerisms. It was something new to Naruto's experiences involving the village at large. He'd received it in small doses from Tsunade and Shizune first, and Hiruzen and Jiraiya, and it had been gradually dragged out of Hiashi and Neji, but from people he'd never met? It was a good feeling, it took the urge he'd always had to stop people... no, monsters... like Orochimaru from hurting others and magnified it by a hundred times, making it both a need _and_ a source of untapped strength. It was... empowering, and satisfying.

* * *

In Tsunade's office, a scroll bearing an offer of alliance sat, waiting on the messengers who would deliver it. A tiny thing, to carry the burden of a shifting destiny, a moment that could... and likely would... change the fate of a world...


	27. Seal 27: Defend

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. It's not what you have that's important; It's what you do with what you have.

**Twenty-seventh Seal: Defend.**

Kakashi felt the burn as his team pushed themselves hard, training in speed at the same time as they raced back to Suna. His pouch contained the scroll bearing the modified terms of alliance, including the order that would allow their preferred ambassadors to re-enter Hi no Kuni. He glanced back at his team occasionally, and Kiba was the only one who seemed reluctant in any way. Mostly, that was because he was away from that Fukuro girl, the former Kumo kunoichi, whose team had been given a mission to Tori no Kuni, an ironic task, given the names of three-quarters of the team involved birds... or possibly an omen... and Kiba was worried about her. From the way the girl was acting around the village, it seemed she felt the same way, and both were too oblivious (and nervous... a big change for Kiba) to notice the other's feelings. Kakashi chuckled inwardly. Everyone had noticed Hinata's crush on Naruto before his abduction almost five years ago, except Naruto, and somehow Kiba and Fukuro _both_ managed to fill both roles...

Shikamaru seemed eager to get there. That could be to challenge Temari to more strategy games, or it could just be to get there with enough time to properly nap. Since the blonde Suna kunoichi was one of the few people that could give the young genius a decent match at his favourite games, Kakashi would have put money on the former.

Sakura's attitude was a surprising one. It wasn't just an eagerness to be away from Konoha that was motivating her, he could tell. She seemed more driven to get _there _than to get _away_. Even though the white-haired jonin had seen the work of art that her arm was now, he did not delude himself that he knew _all_ the secrets it contained. On top of that, her chakra control had been deemed good enough that she could learn some puppet-mastery techniques by Kankuro. She had some medical jutsu under her belt, and of course an instinctive feel for Tsunade's strength-enhancing technique as well, but this... Sakura had expressed an idea for designing 'puppets' that could be directed for emergency medical conditions, such as a mobile stretcher, rather than a collapsible stretcher that relied on other ninja to carry it, so that a medic-nin could get an injured comrade to medical attention without compromising a unit's fighting strength any further than necessary. Tsunade had given the girl a separate mission scroll to pursue such plans in concert with Suna's medics and puppeteers, sharing out the benefits of that research to both villages, and now the pink-haired kunoichi was chomping at the bit to get started.

"_Although,_" Kakashi mused as he returned his attention to their travels, "_she and Kankuro did work well together, and he _did_ bring her out of her shell with those atrocities of... humour... that most people called puns. That they also look fairly good together doesn't hurt._"

* * *

Naruto and Hinata were in the vanguard for their team as they sped towards the borders of Taki no Kuni. Like Team Kakashi, they were carrying a diplomatic scroll, an offer of true alliance, along with classified intelligence as an offer of good faith. Of course, none of the shinobi carrying the scroll knew the exact details of the intelligence, but that was to be expected.

As they travelled, Shino watched his friends closely. The easy closeness the Uzumaki couple shared was enviable, although he was unsure any girl would be willing to overlook his internal colonies unless she were another Aburame... and even then, it was a careful dance to find someone whose colonies were as compatible as their hosts. The level of dedication the colonies required was not easy to match. Idly, he turned over in his mind all the girls that he knew, both in and outside the clan, Hinata wasn't even considered (in love and married already), but the others...

Tenten was older, and seemed more interested in Neji than anyone else, but she was also focused on her shinobi career. Ino was emotionally hurt by Sasuke's death, and Choji seemed to be the one who was helping her the most there. Sakura... well, his kikaichu complained about the frequency of her voice as far back as the Academy, so he doubted that would happen... Further, Ino and Sakura reacted badly to insects. Among his own clan, his closest-in-age- female cousin was in the same class as Hinata's little sister, and the others were either younger or already attached. Maybe there really would be someone out there for him, but Shino felt lonely... an odd sensation for an Aburame with two colonies.

Kurenai was gauging her team's abilities as they sped along. At the last campsite, she'd witnessed Naruto and Hinata both setting their gravity seals to ten before they began sparring with each other, and it had still taken them three hours to tire themselves. Admittedly, that was without heavy jutsu use, as they didn't wish to send up a flare to advertise their location, but they were still in motion and very close to full on fighting for that time. When she'd asked about their seals being set even higher, she had been surprised at Naruto's answer that it wouldn't be safe.

"Anything over a five isn't safe for most people at any time, Kurenai-taichou," Naruto had said, using the new term of address that had replaced 'sensei' when it was discovered she had nothing left that she could teach them. "It starts to tear ligaments and muscles badly enough to scar at that point. As hanyou, Hinata and I don't have _that _problem, of course, but there's more than that to it. Our physical threshold _has_ no upper limit in theory, but our surroundings are not so lucky. If we were to use these seals for anything over a factor of ten in an unprepared area, we'd be destroying it with every step. On top of that... it's just a theory, but we'd have to step beyond chakra to youki, and that could alter us _more_ than we already are. Tails and stuff. So we're holding ourselves to ten until we can figure it out. Of course, we _are_ wearing weights now..."

Kurenai smiled nervously as she passed the branch the Uzumakis had pushed off from for their latest leap. Despite their chakra extending out beneath their feet to strengthen the surface they set foot on, their foot prints had still been crushed into the branch's surface. And they were still learning more...

* * *

Hidan and Kakuzu looked out over the valley. The bloodthirsty cultist could see nothing out of the ordinary, and turned to his companion... not friend, because neither of them wanted any, nor ally, despite their matching goals to serve the Leader (in point of fact, Kakuzu had actually killed Hidan a couple of times when he was pushed too far). "So," he said, "where is this village?"

Following the other Akatsuki's pointed finger showed the Jashinist the waterfall. Behind it was a solid cliff, and a massive forest with a canopy that spanned the horizon. There was also more than a little woodland at the base of the cliff, but nothing that matched the mercenary missing-nin's descriptions of the Great Tree. "I don't see it."

Kakuzu groaned. With Hidan's version of immortality, it was likely he'd have to spend centuries with an eternal moron. "That's the point," he snapped. "The Great Tree makes up a large part of the canopy above the falls, and the forest around it conceals the crater in which it sits. There's only one way in or out that doesn't change... the waterfall cave. It wouldn't be Takigakure no Sato if the village wasn't hidden in the waterfall."

* * *

A similarly argumentative pair were slowly trekking across the sands. "So you _don't_ have one of your little meat-puppets there?" Deidara asked, incredulous. "Why not?"

Sasori rasped out a reply. "Because the jinchuuriki round-up that Konoha seems to have embarked on has thrown off all our plans by a considerable margin. I was going to infiltrate in the next few months to plant a sleeper, but with the way things are... we'll have to fight our way in. That's going to be a pain for our leader..."

Deidara groaned at the puppet-master's pun. Old habits died hard it seemed. Why did Suna puppet-masters like that infernal form of humour anyway? Was it the satisfaction they got from twisting the language around until it danced to _their_ tune, like any of their other puppets? "So, I blow us an entrance, and then we wipe out as many shinobi as get in our way, and we snatch the Ichibi and scram. Is that the plan?"

"We should probably fine-tune it a little, but that's the basic idea," Sasori replied, and the two Akatsuki continued their journey.

* * *

In far-off Kirigakure no Sato, the new Mizukage opened the large case which held what was left of Samehada. The blade which devoured chakra had been in the hands of Kisame since the bloodthirsty monster had left their lands so long ago. Now here it was... with three great holes gouged through it, close enough to be the same hole. It had been a mortal blow, both for the blade and its wielder, whose head had also been returned with it. As she looked again at the shattered sword, Mei Terumi glanced at the open Kumo Bingo Book nearby. "Pass the word, Ao," she ordered. "No shinobi under my command is to go after this young man. I don't care how much the Raikage offers, he's off-limits. Encounters in the field are strictly limited to observation and intelligence-gathering."

Considering the penalties and sanctions that Tetsu no Kuni had assessed against Kumogakure, she doubted the Raikage had that much ready coin to _pay_ the bounty, anyway...

* * *

The explosion was not the first sign of trouble. Suna scouts had spotted the two Akatsuki agents miles out, aided by jutsu that used the principles of the mirage to see a great deal further than others might expect. Sakura and Kankuro had raced towards the entrance to Suna, each carrying seven scrolls. Sakura had been working on her new ideas, and Kankuro had seen some potential in them, and taught her how to construct them, as well as adjusting her artificial arm... and its hidden surprises. They arrived at the gates even as the Akatsuki did, and stood and stared at the two S-rank criminals that were ready for a fight.

Glancing at the walls of the hidden passage between Suna and the desert outside, Sakura spat. "This could be a close fight," she said as Kankuro hauled out his combat puppets, and the bulkier figure facing them began to pay closer attention.

"I blame the narrow minds of our enemies," Kankuro replied. However, before Sakura could speak, their foe did.

"Our timing may be a little tight," Sasori rasped. "Deidara, think you can confine our target alone, or is it too much of a squeeze?"

The blond missing-nin from Iwa... exploded. "**WHY?! Why do all you puppeteers**_** have**_** to make those **_**execrable**_** puns?! Couldn't you find some other form of humour?!**_"_ he screamed, pulling out a clay sculpture and adding chakra to enlarge it into an odd bird and leaped aboard as it began to fly, dropping an array of explosive clay spiders as big as a man's head as he passed. None of them would be able to counter this explosive masterpiece...

Sakura's arm emerged from beneath her cloak for the first time that fight, a small hatch in the palm opening as she did, and aimed her open hand at the escaping Akatsuki as a stream of senbon was launched by a pair of chakra powered wheels built into the arm and hand, each of the blond missing-nin's spiders being nailed by at least a half-dozen as he released them... and detonating them prematurely, which set off the bird he was riding.

Kankuro, on the other hand, had brought out his puppets, Crow and Black Ant, using them to shield the two chunin from the explosion. Others around them had time to enact their own defences, or to evade the blast, but it rained sand and pieces of stone (and likely Deidara) for a few minutes. As the smoke cleared, the other Akatsuki grunted. The flying debris had torn holes in his cloak, revealing large sections of wood, not unlike Sakura's arm, beneath the now-tattered garment.

"Stupid Deidara," he muttered. "Who in their right mind rides around on that much explosive? At least he went out with a bang..." Tearing the rags of the cloak from himself revealed the scorpion-like puppet-body underneath. "Since I don't have the time to play nice..."

He was interrupted by the wave of sand that hammered into him, and began to crush the limbs of his puppet-like body, even as a razor-sharp arc of wind-aspected chakra removed the last third of his tail. "_Hmph. Too many insects for my taste. I'll just have to withdraw for now..._"

As the missing-nin went to leap back from the conflict, Gaara stepped past his brother and the Konoha kunoichi, and Sakura recognised Kakashi and Kiba's voices from behind them, responding to Shikamaru's from above, where he and Temari glided on her fan as the shadow-wielder called out strategies. The grip of the sand Gaara was directing ripped the legs from the wooden body even as the Akatsuki collapsed on the sand.

The snap of hidden catches was extraordinarily loud as the body before them burst open down its back. The apparently young man who leaped from the body began to run, at impossible speeds, away from Suna. Gaara's control of the sand around him wouldn't allow that, however, and pulled the fleeing puppetmaster's legs deeper into the desert sands, even as a hatch opened in Sasori's arm and sprayed a hail of senbon, not unlike Sakura had earlier.

There was no thought on Gaara's part as his sand automatically jumped to protect him, but with his vision obscured, even for a brief period, he couldn't direct it. Temari couldn't use her fan either, not without dropping herself and Shikamaru to the ground a good ways down, and so couldn't push the needles aside. The other ninja, including Kakashi and Kiba, along with Akamaru, of course, ducked to one side or the other of the passage, and were thus safe that way...

Kankuro had no such protections, no such defences, and a good number of senbon headed his way. He couldn't even interpose his puppets from their current positions in time...

Sakura _moved_. Some how she tucked Kankuro's head under her left arm as she pushed chakra recklessly into her body, and used it to trigger another feature of her artificial arm as she pulled the Suna ninja down with her, slamming her right elbow ahead of them as several plates of her arm sprang out to form a shield, keeping the hail of needles from her and Kankuro. "Shield of Cherry-blossom Steel!"

* * *

They'd missed him, but not by much. When the bird detonated, he'd used the kawarimi no jutsu to swap places with some poor sap of a Suna nin, and even at that he'd taken a measure of the explosion, losing his entire left arm to the blast. It looked like he had two options. First, he could conceal himself, and assess the threat these people possessed, and maybe even distract them from Sasori's plan, probably by blowing up some insignificant landmark... like Suna... and snatching the Ichibi jinchuuriki in the chaos. Second, he could run away, _after_ gathering suitable intelligence on these defenders. The big problem was, either way, only one of them was likely to get away...

* * *

Sasori turned as he recovered his footing. Sand-skimming or no, giving Gaara _more_ sand to bury him with was not a good plan. Dividing the enemy was. So his spray had two targets. If only that blasted Yuura hadn't been killed during the invasion of Konoha, he could have made _him_ take out the sentries, and this fight would have been so different. When the girl's arm had first shown up, he'd wondered if there was somebody else who'd stumbled over his flesh-to-puppet apotheosis, but discarded the thought when a flying shard of rock had clipped her cheek in the explosion. Puppets don't bleed. Then her action in protecting the Suna puppeteer had revealed her arm was more than a one-trick pony, as the saying ran. The shield had been very impressive, and as it collapsed back into the arm's plates, he had to admit he was impressed.

Opening his robes, he pulled out the first of his scrolls, whipping it open and deactivating the storage seals as he did, even as the spike-headed cable usually coiled in his torso dug into the stone of the cliff near the passage entrance and lifted him over the incoming spears of sand that Gaara was directing.

The figure that appeared from the scroll struck Kankuro mute with fear for a moment, before he cursed volubly. "Crap!" he muttered, and only Sakura was close enough to hear him, dusting the sand off her side as they stood. "That's the Sandaime Kazekage... we never knew where he'd gone... all this time... This is really bad..."

* * *

Deidara had discarded his Akatsuki robe and the scarred hitai-ate, sealing them away quickly as he snatched some headgear from a nearby store. The civilians who ran it had fled at the first signs of trouble, and the hitai-ate of a fallen shinobi completed the look as the blond man slipped into place among the Suna ranks, his missing arm replaced by a hasty sculpture of his detonating clay. He was starting to run low on that, too, having enough left for one bird or eight spiders, besides his pre-prepared 'big finisher'. He just needed to see what Sasori's chances were, though, as the pair had never met this kind of trouble before. Their specialties had their place, and they could cover each other flaws, but this was strictly speaking, a first for them. While they had been trained and briefed incredibly well, there was no-one left in their organisation with any actual experience in fighting jinchuuriki, that he knew of, except possibly Kakuzu. No-one was sure _how_ long that ninja had been alive.

Still, Sasori bringing out _that_ puppet was a bad sign. If he also brought out the Hundred Puppet Performance, Deidara would just cut his losses and escape.

* * *

The smell of blood hung heavy in the air as Team Kurenai reached the valley where they were supposed to meet their escort. Glancing at each other, _knowing_ that this was a bad sign, they began to move forwards, heading for the secondary rendezvous, a clearing somewhat closer to the centre of Taki no Kuni, picking up speed as the sounds of battle rang through the air.

The clearing itself was not empty, with two men in tattered black and red cloaks who were fighting hard against several ninja with the Taki hitai-ate on their brows. The taller of the two was clashing with a teenager, around the same age as the Konoha chunin, with green hair, clad in a white, midriff-baring top and pants combo. She was struggling, flagging fast, and fighting as if she was scared to use everything she had. Her foe had no such problems, and although fighting her had not been a free ride, he was overwhelming her.

The other Akatsuki was strange as he hurled his triple-bladed scythe, swinging it by the long cable attached to the haft and barely scratching the frantically evading Taki shinobi. A quick tug sufficed to return his weapon, as he grinned, and he licked the blood from the blade in a disturbing way, laughing as he did, stepping into a strange diagram stained onto the earth beneath him in blood. His skin turned black to accent his grey hair, and white lines formed on his skin, loosely matching up with his bones, Naruto guessed. What he did next was insane, for as they watched, he activated a spring-loaded blade in the rod at the other end of the cable on his scythe, and then, crying out "All glory for Jashin-sama!", drove it through his own heart, stiffening and collapsing backwards as he did... Three was a scream as the last Taki ninja, with the exception of the girl fighting the other Akatsuki, died, blood fountaining from a stab to his chest that had no explanation.

"This is going to get tricky," Kurenai said, recalling the short descriptions from the Bingo Books. "These two don't generally leave witnesses..."

The missing-nin still standing, Kakuzu, she thought his name was, lashed out with a rapid strike that hammered the green-haired girl against a tree, an action that strained her ability to remain conscious too far, and she passed out, collapsing to the ground in a heap. Naruto stretched out his senses, trying to see if she was still alive, even as Hinata's Zenmi Shigan spotted the colour of her chakra as it faded back to blue from a deep, verdant, forest green. She also saw the assailant had multiple 'cauldrons', the centres of chakra that poured it into the rest of the system, although two of his remaining three seemed to be linked in a very strange way, almost as if they didn't really belong to him. He also showed signs of having had two more such outside cauldrons which had been destroyed recently. She glanced at her husband and nodded, confirming his guess, even as a thin, soft wave of chakra washed past them, and the remaining man turned in their direction.

"Hidan, you idiot," he said in a very harsh and angry tone. "Get up, we're not alone here."

What happened next was assuredly not what anyone expected... the second Akatsuki, the one who'd stabbed himself, apparently killing himself to kill the Taki ninja, sat up and complained. "What do you care, Kakuzu? We'll just kill 'em all for Jashin-sama's glory, and then we drag that demon-bottle back to the Leader, and it's done."

"We can't do that you fool," Kakuzu replied, wishing he could afford to kill this nuisance a few times himself. "Two of them feel like jinchuuriki, and you know Konoha's been trying to catch them all for themselves."

Kurenai couldn't see this going well at all. "Shino, you and I get to stop the tall one..."

Hinata interrupted her. "That's a bad idea, Kurenai-taichou," she whispered. "He has more than one cauldron, so he'll just rip through your genjutsu like a kunai through rice paper. You and Shino would be best set to deal with the other one, but be careful... I can't see _any_ chakra in him at all. Naru-kun and I will hold off this Kakuzu, and you can help us once you've dealt with the other one."

Neither of the young shinobi couple waited for the plan to be confirmed, and Kurenai had to admit that their argument made sense, even as all four Konoha ninja burst from the trees to join the fight...

Kakuzu saw the way the Konoha shinobi had split up and cursed. He recognised that blasted Uzumaki couple that had put paid to Itachi and Kisame, and recognised their power, even it it felt like _two _jinchuuriki now, but why couldn't he feel the Kyuubi? The girl beside him was the container of the Nanabi, and even though she was unconscious he could _sense_ the demon, tucked away, deep inside her seal. So _not_ sensing the demon in the boy was troubling. On top of that, how had the girl become a jinchuuriki? It was supposedly impossible for someone above a few months old to receive such a seal as would hold one of the biju, and the fact that she felt like one... had Konoha had _two_ jinchuuriki all along, and did that mean the Leaders intelligence was faulty?

The gleam of purple where the girl's eyes were confused him a little, but not enough to lose focus, and even as Naruto formed the hand seal and called up scores of Kage Bunshin, sending them into battle to test the Akatsuki shinobi, Kakuzu pondered... didn't the brat marry a Hyuuga? A Hyuuga!? The missing-nin's eyes snapped to the girl, and sure enough spotted the slightly bulging vein-like chakra coils feeding her eyes. She had to go first, before anything else happened. There was a bright side, though... If he and Hidan could win this, they could collect quite a bounty here.

* * *

Hinata and Naruto saw the realisation hit Kakuzu, his reaction screaming out that he knew she saw the extra cauldrons which, if Naruto was recalling the information forced into his head by Tsunade so long ago, meant that there had to be some kind of extra organ there to generate them... a simple replacement was melded into the original chakra network in the case of transplants... and that organ had to be capable of keeping someone alive, which meant a heart or brain... most likely hearts, as brains were supposed to bring residual memories and impulses from the previous 'owner' of the organ. Reaching out with his 'whisker-sense', which he'd had more experience with than Hinata, he pushed out his own chakra towards their enemy, 'tasting' the resonance returning from him. This guy was strong... his chakra reserves weren't in the same league as Kisame, for example, but he had a lot of power available, even after fighting for who knew how long, and he had strong affinities for water, fire and earth... with traces of wind and lightning, as if he'd had those affinities and they'd been burned out or something similar...

Even as Naruto was brining his bonemetal claws out, Hinata was moving in the defensive motions of her Gentle Storm style, flowing like water from place to place as needed, and although their foe wasn't giving any chances for her to counterstrike,she was managing to hold him off. There was something wrong with his chakra network, too, and she delved deeper, trying to spot the exact difference, but the slight dip in her focus was enough for one of Kakuzu's attacks to get through her defences...

The strike didn't hit, however, as Naruto's claws, powered up with wind chakra, sheared through the arm, severing the limb and sending it off at an angle to the intended strike, and giving the Akatsuki ninja pause for a fraction of a second before he leaped back, reassessing the situation, even as black, thread-like tendrils emerged from both edges of the wound, re-attaching the arm as if nothing had happened. That was a major clue for Hinata as she muttered what she found. "It's almost as if he has three separate chakra systems, Naru-kun," she said. "He definitely has three different cauldrons... and they're all attached to his main network. He can probably live through losing two of them..."

Naruto finished her train of thought. "...But all three? Let's see what happens."


	28. Seal 28: Overcome

_**Project Naruto: Shinobi X.**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Naruto world or characters. Those are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The challenge I answer here is from devilzxknight86, with all due credit for the basic concept. Life may be hard, but look at the alternative.

**Twenty-eighth Seal: Overcome.**

Tsunade glared at the messages before her. One had been sent from Takigakure, and the other from Sunagakure, and neither carried good news. They had been sent by summon creatures, a much faster and more desperate method than the usual messengers, and a clear sign that things were not going well. Taking barely a moment to glance at the active-duty chart on the wall, the Godaime Hokage pressed a button on her desk and snapped orders into the intercom. "Shizune! I need a messenger hawk ready to go in five minutes, attuned to Maito Gai, and send for Team Ay immediately!"

She was already scrawling the message in a broad, clear hand, to redirect Team Gai towards Suna to reinforce Team Kakashi, while she went over what orders she'd give Ay and his team for this mission. These Akatsuki were _really_ getting on her last nerve...

* * *

The iron sand the puppet controlled was a problem, Sakura realised quickly, and not one that was easy to overcome. She could feel the magnetic field that shaped it into the vast number of spears that then rained towards them by the pull on her arm's shoulder and knuckle plates, and was running her old school lessons on magnetism through her head. There were a number of ways to break up a magnetic field, but only a few of them were lasting... But the secret wasn't to attack the sand, she realised, but the puppet... Leaping upward, she clung to the wall of the passage as she signalled to Shikamaru, and the lazy strategist nodded, tapping on Temari's shoulder as the two dropped to the passage floor. Gaara's sand had grabbed at the iron sand, pinning it in place as best he could, even as Sasori lashed out with hidden blades at Kankuro and his puppets. Sakura crouched, pushing chakra into her legs at the same time as she poured it into her arm, the earth-aspected energies strengthening both the material, and the 'muscles' of twisted cable inside the artificial limb.

The opening was incredibly small, as Temari combined her wind scythe jutsu with a hasty flame-thrower technique from Shikamaru, directing the resulting super-heated fire at the mass of sand and powdered iron that hung between Gaara and the puppet Kazekage, fusing it into a single immovable lump, one that disrupted the magnetic fields with its very existence. Kankuro's puppets were being shattered as Sakura launched herself up the wall of the passage, charging towards the puppet from behind the massive lump of glass and steel as it fell, and struck... hard. Pushing more chakra into her fist, she slammed it into the centre of the puppet, right on top of the kanji on the chest, the character for 'iron', and scattering the pieces of the puppet far and wide. In doing so, however, she was scratched in several places by fragments of the now-broken construct, and the thin purple film on some of the sharper pieces entered her bloodstream. It hurt, it burned like nothing she'd ever experienced before, and all the strength she possessed fled her limbs as she fell to the sand below.

As the girl fell, to be caught by the now-puppetless Kankuro, who promptly fed her a broad-spectrum antidote, Sasori wasted half a moment regretting that he hadn't perfected his latest poisonous concoction, which would have rendered the antidote useless, before turning his attention to the remaining shinobi, and the gathering Suna ninja, equivalent to Konoha's ANBU, and pulled a scroll from his back, unravelling it with his left hand as he opened the right side of his chest. The scroll released a hundred puppets in red cloaks, and the opening in his torso released a similar number of chakra strings, and even as he called out "Performance of the Hundred Puppets!", Shikamaru's shadow stabbed into his own, freezing him to the spot before the strings could connect... allowing Kankuro to steal control of two puppets, armed with what looked like chains, and begin to confine the motionless marionettes.

"Hurry!" yelled the lazy strategist. "I can't hold him long, he's too strong!"

* * *

Deidara had seen enough. He'd been quietly working his clay... spiders or a bird, he still hadn't decided, until Sasori's hundred puppets were brought out. "_Shit,_" he thought harshly, "_that's a bad sign, and the Leader won't want to leave anything for questioning... Oh, well, it's Sasori, I never liked him much anyway._"

The clay bird appeared, and he leaped onto its back, staying well above the fighting, and taking advantage of the momentary surprise to dash past both defenders and puppets alike, pulling out his 'big finisher' as he raced over Sasori's head, and activating it as he threw it over his shoulder...

To say the explosion was big, would have been like referring to the ocean as a little damp, or midday in Kaze no Kuni as a little warm. The detonation didn't just drive the very sand of the desert in waves, but also reached a sufficient temperature to turn it to glass, not a pure, clear glass such as Suna glass-blowers could produce, but the dirty, cracked and bubbled stuff that could be found after a lightning strike. Sasori and his puppets absorbed the shock-wave unprotected, consumed by the detonation's heat and force, and Gaara barely got a barrier of sand in place to protect those in the passage, one he had to continually replenish as the heat from the blast converted the sand into glass from the heat. By the time the destructive blast had finished, the passage into Suna had been sealed with a solid glass barrier some twenty feet thick, or there-abouts, and Deidara had gotten away. Of Sasori and his puppets, not a single trace would be found.

* * *

Kurenai gave up the genjutsu as a bad idea. It just wasn't working, as whatever kept this Hidan going in place of chakra pretty much ignored her attempts to connect her illusion techniques to it. On top of that, she and Shino were constantly forced to dodge the scythe that the missing-nin wielded with abandon. He didn't even seem to care about the depth of the blow, or where it struck. Struck by an inspiration, she poured most of her chakra into her next genjutsu, a simple illusion that had a unique trait, for all that it couldn't affect a large area... it didn't touch alter the senses of her target, but instead created an actual visual illusion, in this case, as she dodged the next scythe sweep by a extremely narrow margin (she actually felt the cloth of her right sleeve part, but the blade missed the skin), she created the image of blood on the scythe. On seeing this, the Akatsuki ninja immediately caught the scythe and quickly licked the blade... tasting nothing.

"Shino," the Konoha genjutsu mistress called out, "why do you think he did that?" On the fly analysis was more his strong suit than hers, and she would be a fool not to take advantage of that fact. Yuhi Kurenai was many things, but fool was decidedly _not_ among them.

"The blood must be needed for something," the young Aburame said quietly. "Perhaps to form some kind of meta-physiological link between the 'donor' and the 'recipient', most likely through the use of whatever form of energy he uses instead of chakra. It isn't chakra or youki, both of which Hinata could sense, and I doubt it would be shen, or divine energy... but to get that effect we observed earlier. Hmm, I wonder... Kurenai-taichou, I have an idea."

Dodging a slash from the frustrated scythe-wielding maniac, the jonin kunoichi nodded, giving her subordinate the go-ahead, and Shino unleashed a massive wave of insects that swarmed the missing-nin as he flailed wildly with his scythe, and even as Shino began a set of hand-signs, Hidan burst from the cloud of kikaichu beetles and rushed the chunin, who brought out his own weapons and began a defensive dance as he bought time for his insects to return. No sooner had the kikaichu swarm returned than Hidan's scythe slipped past Shino's guard, tearing at his arm and drawing blood before Hidan leaped back, licking at the precious liquid, savouring the coppery tang that told him it was really blood, even as Shino dropped to one knee and clutched his arm, and the Akatsuki shinobi stepped back into his ritual circle as his flesh once again turned black, and the white lines over his bones, and the section of white over his face, appeared. As the strange man removed a collapsing blade from his robe, he laughed maniacally as Kurenai moved to help Shino.

"Prepare for the afterlife you little shit!" Hidan screamed, not wanting to prolong this ritual too much with the jonin still running loose, as he plunged the spike into his own heart.

* * *

Hinata had managed to pinpoint what was wrong with this man's chakra system. He didn't have any tenketsu! The chakra came from the cauldrons and simply circulated through a legion of extra-fine coils that resembled nothing so much as threads. That caused her a problem, as without tenketsu, her usual targets were gone, and with the way those threads kept shifting around, she was fairly certain they could replace and replicate themselves fast enough that the only really vulnerable points would be the hearts.

Kakuzu moved fast, knowing that a Hyuuga, even if she had some kind of henge to disguise her eyes, could well unravel the secrets behind his power, and charged at the girl. His assault was pure taijutsu, and he knew she was too green, too unschooled to withstand it, but at the same time he wasn't going to make the mistake of underestimating her, and he drove his leg forward in a snap kick of devastating force... that struck something hard and immovable.

Naruto stood before the missing-nin, his arms crossed before him, plated with bonemetal that extended up from his wrists, now receding back into his arms as the jinchuuriki released the chakra shaping the plates, with Kakuzu's foot at full extension resting on the cross. He swung both hands across and outward, severing the leg as the missing-nin jumped back, threads reaching out and reattaching the limb before he landed. Then two large bundles of the threads pushed up above the shoulders of the Akatsuki ninja, each bearing a mask representing some animal... The mouths of the masks dropped open as they aimed roughly at the Uzumaki couple as they stood before him, and as the red-mouthed mask seemed to gather fire in front of it, the brown-striped one fed earth, in the form of stone and dirt, into the flames, and Kakuzu unleashed a seal-less jutsu, even as Naruto and Hinata frantically raced through the hand-signs for their own jutsu.

"Yoton: Pyroclastic Wave!" the Akatsuki bounty-hunter roared, and a gout of super-heated lava shot towards the two Konoha ninja, where it met their answering defence.

"Suiton: Tidal Wall!" Hinata yelled, raising a massive wall of water that she sent coursing towards the lava stream, and Naruto plunged his hands into the water, calling out "Raiton: Static Separation!" as it passed.

The water, charged by lightning, continued to barrel towards Kakuzu, who raised a water wall of his own, disrupting the lava stream as it went, and turning to vapour on the way. The cloud settled around Kakuzu, as he dropped his water wall, seeing the near transparent fog as no threat, and the fire-mask opened its mouth again, and the fire gathered once more for the lava technique...

The explosion certainly took the man off-guard, a massive blast of flame that slammed the Akatsuki heart-thief to the ground even as the detonation consumed the two masks and the hearts behind them, although Kakuzu was fast enough to put himself in a reversed water-prison, preserving his life... for now. With the other masks ripped away from him, until he had the time to replace the missing hearts, he was the weakest he'd been in years. Glaring at the two _chunin_ who'd brought him to this, he snarled out his question. "How?"

"Basic chemistry," Naruto answered. "You better believe I paid attention about how to make things explode. When you run the right electrical current through water or steam, you get two colourless gasses, very excitable ones, that will explode with the slightest spark... which you so thoughtfully supplied."

"You're still in over your heads, child," sneered the bounty-hunter. "If I can't capture you, I'll just have to kill you. According to my sources the Kyuubi, whichever one of you is carrying it, will regenerate in the next ten years or so. No big loss." He raised his hands and started a very potent jutsu. He hadn't needed hand-signs for decades, and now...

* * *

The first sign Hidan had that something was wrong, was the lack of bleeding in the boy... despite the blade piercing his heart, the boy wasn't reacting at all... except to burst into a swarm of insects surrounding a log as the _real_ Shino emerged from the trees, startling the jonin woman. And the pain, while much of a rush as ever, wasn't fading, and he was starting to feel... cold? The injury wasn't healing, either... "Jashin?" the zealot asked, as blood gouted up his throat to pour from his mouth. "What's happening? Why have you forsaken me?"

The young Aburame spoke up. "I apologise if I worried you, Kurenai-taichou, but I needed to see if the signature of the source would have a negative feedback effect on the wielder of the jutsu. I had my kikaichu harvest some of his blood when they swarmed him, and they smeared it on his blade when I substituted for the bugs and the log. It seems that his jutsu sacrifices another's potential lifespan to extend his, but now... he just sacrificed himself, forever. The loop is constant now, and what would be recovered is taken away just as fast, leaving him with his original life-force... which, since Hinata-san told us he has no chakra of his own, is none. Still, if you would be so kind?"

Kurenai raised her hands and flickered them through the signs of a jutsu. "Katon: Phoenix Fire Storm!" In moments, there was nothing left of the Jashinist, and the two raced over to their team-mates.

* * *

"Suiton: Grand Deluge!" The massive outpouring of water, a veritable torrent on a primordial level, cascaded towards Kakuzu's opponents, and he turned towards his prize... only to hear a calm and collected young man's voice. "Doton: Shattered Ground!"

The earth beneath his feet rumbled and split, splintering into a deep pit that sucked away all the water, courtesy of that boy in the dark glasses, even now standing between Kakuzu and the jinchuuriki he'd been sent for, who was being woken by the Konoha jonin, and stared groggily at the Aburame and his beetles who even now buzzed around him. As the Akatsuki ninja fell, plummeting into water that was waist deep, the three members of Team Kurenai glanced at each other and nodded. There was one jutsu they all knew, and now they flickered through the hand-signs in perfect synchronisation.

Kakuzu was stepping up onto the surface of the water as they finished and unleashed the jutsu, with one foot still below the surface, and his threads emerging from every parting point in his body, absolutely drenched, and there was nothing he could do, as three voices called out as one. "Raiton: Lightning Spear!"

The roar of the thunder accompanying the lightning was deafening, the flare of three lightning bolts that blended as one washed the area in a light so bright everything was in some shade of white and all shadows were banished, and the scream of the one called Kakuzu was never heard at all...

* * *

The aftermath was a real drag, mused Shikamaru. It was going to take days, if not weeks, for the Sunagakure craftsmen to clear the passage enough for the Konoha diplomats to return home with their reports, although a messenger hawk would be dispatched to deliver a preliminary report. The arrival of Team Gai outside the glass barrier hadn't helped, either. It hadn't taken long for the Konoha back-up to find the gigantic glass 'flower' that had been left behind by the massive explosion, and crossing it had been a simple task... if a hot one. The midday sun in Kaze no Kuni heated the glass to a scorching temperature, nearly enough to burn their feet _through_ their sandals. It was quickly determined that it would be far more efficent to simply carve out a new passage some distance from the glass, and the young Nara had been the one to suggest it. The Suna ninja council had stepped up and nominated a Godaime Kazekage... Gaara, of all people... but he'd turned down the position.

"I have not earned it," the Ichibi jinchuuriki had said. "I do not possess the skills or patience for it, nor the experience. Should I be offered the position of Rokudaime at some future time, perhaps I will feel differently, but for now, no."

The council had reluctantly released their plans for Gaara's ascension to the post, and had instead been persuaded to consider another, a man who was known for his neutral stance, but had refused to leave Gaara unburdened by some duty, and appointed his team to diplomatic duties, and when Team Kakashi had presented the scroll lifting the protocols against Suna ninja in Hi no Kuni, that was their first assignment. Kankuro was further ordered to follow up on the medi-puppet designs in the villlage with the best medic-nin in the Elemental Nations... Konoha.

* * *

Deidara was not looking forward to his report. Just a week ago, he'd thought this would be easy, and bragged and shot off his mouth, and now he was forced to tell everyone they'd failed... against a single jinchuuriki, even if said jinchuuriki had been backed up by several skilled, if unknown, ninja. As he spoke to the people still in the chamber, he looked around. Considering that the location of this stronghold was closer to Suna than to Taki, and that the other Akatsuki pair preferred walking, he was sure they would be here as projections, if nothing else, but the absence of Hidan and Kakuzu could be attributed to a number of causes, such as a close pursuit, so he didn't pay it much mind.

"This is troubling," said the leader, turning to the member who most resembled some kind of Venus fly-trap. "Zetsu, locate the other two. If they're having trouble with pursuers, assist them, and get the Nanabi back here at once."

* * *

Ay stared at the carnage that had been wrought inside Takigakure, great swaths of destruction and devastation. Many of the shinobi here had been killed, and those who remained were no friend to the green-haired girl, Fuu. The elders of the village were adamant, and the two biggest supporters of the Taki jinchuuriki were dead, at the hands of the two Akatsuki. His team had arrived mere minutes after the two Akatsuki had been dealt with, and there was little left to do but the clean-up. Fuu and the exhausted Team Kurenai had needed someone to watch over them as they rested. Naruto and Hinata had recovered the fastest, of course, although the green-haired jinchuuriki wasn't that far behind.

Killer Bee had whistled low at the accomplishments of the younger shinobi. "Dang, boy, you done kicked ass, I guess your first score is a pass," he'd rapped, prompting Yugito to jab his ribs with her fingertips. Naruto had merely nodded, and snuggled closer to Hinata.

The mass memorial for the fallen Taki ninja was the next day, and the elders had looked over the proposal of alliance with Konoha before rejecting it. "The monster is the source of the trouble we just went through," one particularly odious old woman said. "We have stricken it from our shinobi roster and it will be executed to ensure no-one ever uses it against us."

The four demon-touched Konoha shinobi nearly lost their tempers at that, but fortunately Ay came to the rescue. "If _she_ isn't on your roster, she can't be one of your missing-nin, right?" he asked, nodding at his brother, who grinned and waved his hand behind him at Team Kurenai's chunin. "So if we just found a strange girl on our way to Konoha, and adopted her, then you couldn't call out anyone for her, unless you wanted to go up against the strongest Hidden Village in the Elemental Nations worth the name. Am I right?"

The elders nodded reluctantly. "That may be true, but first the jinchuuriki would have to escape our village's cells."

Kurenai had seen her two hanyou chunin sneak out, replaced quietly by two of Shino's bug clones under henge illusions to seem like the young couple, so she was somewhat expecting what happened next. A Taki shinobi stumbled into the chambers, shouting as he did.

"Honoured elders! The jinchuuriki's escaped! Two demons helped it, they broke through the doors and then they all went up the Great Tree, trying to escape along the branches to reach the outside!" The panic that commenced covered the re-entry of the two Uzumaki ninja, who switched with the bug clones, raising Kurenai's suspicions, even as one of the more level headed elders took charge.

"Enough! You!" He pointed at the new shinobi. "Escort these outsiders from the village, and make sure they leave Taki no Kuni. Everyone else, organise the search and pursuit teams." He paused and looked over at the shinobi who'd raised the alarm, the one he'd just tasked with removing the foreign ninja from his nation. "Which way did these demons go?"

The shinobi swallowed. "They were heading south, so they might have been heading for Hi no Kuni, but that might be a ruse. If the trail were to vanish, most trackers would keep going in an attempt to pick it up later, but if they instead go somewhere else? I couldn't say. I'm just a chunin sir."

"No matter," the elder snorted. "I doubt they'd actually be going to Konoha now. But those are the shorter branches, and from there they have easy access to such villages as Oto, Suna and Iwa. You have your task, chunin, perform it." With that, the elders swept out, ignoring the Konoha entourage as they trailed behind the chunin.

They managed to maintain the pretence long enough to be halfway to the border before Fuu dropped her henge of a non-descript Taki chunin, and Naruto filled them in on the events and the plan. "If their search parties are ahead of us, they can't find our tracks properly, so I sent a few clones along the branches with orders to disperse once they cleared the edge and left a bit of a trail towards Iwa. After that, Fuu henged so we could have them _order_ her to escort us out, although that was a bit of a gamble, but the way they were treating us, I figured they wouldn't want strangers around while they dealt with their dirty laundry. Since they already removed her from their roster, that means she's free to choose where she wants to go."

Fuu herself put her own opinion in. "Konoha is as good as any and better than many," she said. "If they don't want me, then at least I'll get the chance to think about where to go."

* * *

"You're not going to like hearing this," Zetsu snarled at Pain. "Hidan and Kakuzu won't be coming back. They were beaten. Somehow they killed Hidan, and were able to make it stick. On top of that, they took down Kakuzu as well. Admittedly, they were both weakened somewhat by the assault on Taki to get the Nanabi, but dead is still dead."

The 'Leader' of the Akatsuki swore to himself. If it hadn't been for Tobi stumbling across the Rokubi jinchuuriki in Cha no Kuni, this would have been a massive problem. They couldn't seal the biju into the statue yet, as it needed the previous five biju to 'warm it up' to the point where the statue wouldn't simply explode, and each biju would take progressively longer to seal... Three days for the Ichibi, five for the Nibi, seven for the Sanbi and so on. But the whole situation was bad. Right now, Konoha had over half of the biju, a balance in power he thought he could use, were it not for a single glaring fact: Konoha had never started a war, despite their comparative power being greater than the other Great Hidden Villages, but they had a distressing tendency of finishing them. The only time in the past century that Konoha had been the aggressor had been the strikes of retribution for their fallen ally, Uzushiogakure.

It was looking more and more like the Akatsuki would have to strike at Konoha directly... and that would require time and planning...


End file.
